Rising Star
by dead witch
Summary: The final battle in the Land or Iron begins as the lone Sanseirei leads the Bijuu against those who would hunt them down. Chapter 43 updated. Warning, several lemons throughout the story.
1. Rising Star

I've been writing this fic for nearly four years now. It's been quite a wild ride, and I can honestly say I've never had so much fun at times than when I'm coming up with ideas for this epic storyline.

As of this writing, I've published 38 chapters, and I don't plan on stopping any time soon. We're barely a third of the way through what I have planned out. Please, I beg of you new readers, be patient with me. It can get rocky and bumpy, and at times it will be slow and steady. But like all great journeys, it is not the destination, or bits and pieces that you pass on the wayside-it's everything taken as a whole.

I wish you would be patient with me, and please, enjoy what you read. Read some of my other stories, if you have the time, too. And as always, read and review. You guys make it all worth it.

Now accepting beta requests full time.

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He was cold. But then again, he was always cold, no matter what the temperature was outside, or in his apartment, or in the Ninja Academy. His skin always felt clammy to him and anyone who could get close enough to touch him—not that he let many people get that close, even if they wanted to get that close.

But even if he wasn't perpetually frigid, the sharp night air would have made him chilly. With each shallow breath that he took, a puff of condensation steamed from his nose, as if from the nostrils of a dragon, ready and eager to incinerate any fool crossing his path. The unusually crisp autumn night caused his eyes to tear as he swung slowly, ever so slowly back and forth on the chain-link swing at the old playground he used to frequent when he was a child, long before he realized the cruel reality of his life.

Back then, when he had been a child, he could never understand why all of the parents would always pull their children away when he went too close to them. Back then, of course, he didn't know that he was the carrier of a monster, one as ancient as the world itself, older by far than any ninja village, even Konoha.

_What am I doing here?_ the blond-haired boy asked himself for the tenth time that night. _Why am I hurting myself with these memories?_ Naruto wanted to cry, but he didn't, he couldn't. He hadn't cried in many years, not since that horrible day when he finally realized on a conscious level that he was the harbor for a monster, a demon that had ravaged his village over twelve years before—precisely on Naruto's birthday. It had been no coincidence that the two dates coincided, either: the Fourth Hokage, the village leader and champion, the strongest shinobi in the village, had had to use a newborn baby, one with his umbilical cord still attached to his bellybutton, as a repository for the demon. Naruto never knew why he had been chosen to be the one to hold the Kyuubi; perhaps it was fate that forced the two creatures together. Or perhaps it wasn't fate, but just a roll of the dice, thrown by the gods who like to play with the lesser creatures that roam the earth, thinking so high of themselves.

Naruto chuckled at the thoughts. _Well, whatever it is,_ he thought to himself, _there is only one pure, simple truth that I can rely on: my life, for what it's worth, __**sucks.**_

A twig snapped nearby, accompanied by the softest of crunches, the sound of someone trying very diligently to sneak over twenty feet of gravel. Naruto halted his swinging, but remained with his face to the moon, a small smile creeping along his face. With his hyper-sensitive ears, he could hear the person breathing as he was sneaking up on Naruto—or at least, trying to sneak up on the blond-headed Genin-elect.

Naruto didn't move as the person crept up closer and closer to the blond-haired boy, letting his stalker think that he would be able to get close enough to touch him. With every second, with every cautious step, the distance between the two closed. Naruto had to time this just right, if it was going to work. When Naruto judged that the person behind him was close enough, he cleared his throat, breaking the silence that had surrounded him until just that moment. "What are you up to, Konohamaru?" he asked, a grin apparent in his voice. "Isn't it way past your bedtime?"

A silent curse came from the bushes behind Naruto. "How did you know?" the boy in the shrubbery asked right as he leapt over the remaining barriers directly at Naruto, a kunai clutched in his fist, aimed at the back of the older boy's neck.

Naruto quickly leaned backwards in the swing, swung his legs up, caught the fist with the kunai tightly between his ankles, and using Konohamaru's own momentum, slammed the surprised younger boy in the sand, a dirty cloud billowing up around him. Naruto jumped to his feet an instant after Konohamaru hit the ground and stepped lightly but firmly on the kid's wrist, effectively disarming him.

Konohamaru swung a leg at Naruto's body, which Naruto easily caught. Naruto twisted his ankle a bit more viciously than he had to, almost dislocating both ankle and wrist, making Konohamaru cry out in pain. Naruto held on until Konohamaru stopped squirming, then let both limbs flop to the ground, eliciting another cry of pain from the boy. He grabbed the kunai from his hand before he could think of anything else to do with it.

Naruto stepped away a few paces. "I knew," he said, "because you were careless. Did you actually think that you would be able to sneak up on me like that? As if." Naruto snorted contemptuously and turned to walk away, twirling the kunai in his hand.

"Hold on!" Konohamaru said as he struggled to his feet, kicking up sand as he arose. "I'm not finished with you, demon!" He tried to dash at Naruto, but a combination of loose sand and an overlong scarf made him fall down again. Naruto had to stifle a laugh as he watched the younger boy hit the ground in such a comic manner.

"No?" Naruto said quietly to the night air, almost to himself. "Well, I'm done with you, kid." With that, he walked away, sinking and melting into the night as Konohamaru watched in mixed fear and awe.

The night was the true home of the blond Genin-elect. With the shadows carpeting his jet-black jumpsuit, he was virtually invisible to the naked eye. Only one who knew what to look for had any hope of finding him at all.

Naruto jumped lightly along the roofs of Konoha, making his gradual way toward his house, but not directly toward it. Instead, he took a roundabout route, occasionally jumping over an alley or side street, wandering aimlessly, letting his unconscious guide and direct him. Often, it was in just this way that things got exciting.

He might have overlooked it on accident, had it not been for the slight movement of hands in the light of the arc-halogen lights, bathing the street in a sickly orange. He had leapt over the street and would have moved on, regardless of what was going on down there. But he felt that something wasn't right; his sixth sense told him to go back and check it out one last time.

He skidded to a halt on the hard tar of the roof and slowly crept to the edge of the building, listening to the quiet conversation below.

"Is this all of it? Are you sure?" This voice belonged to a younger man, shaky and frightened, anxious. His voice sounded as if he were trying to talk, but had too much smoke in his throat and was just croaking it out.

"Yes, yes, it's all there," another voice said in a reassuring voice. Naruto peeked over the edge and saw that the speaker was a middle-aged man with a black trench coat that hung to his knees. He was rather taller than the other man, and a bit broader, too. His voice held an accent that Naruto couldn't place, but knew that it wasn't native to his village. In his hand was a brown paper bag, stuffed with something Naruto couldn't place.

The other man also held a paper bag about the same size as the other one. The two were standing about ten feet from each other, and were approaching each other slowly, both bags extended. A flash of insight hit Naruto as his keen nose picked up the scent of one of the bags twenty feet below.

_Holy crap…is that what I think it is?_ Naruto thought as they grew closer to each other. As they grew within striking range of each other, Naruto had to think fast. He jumped off of the roof to the brick wall of the building across the wide alley, landing with his feet flat on the rough surface. Instantly, he rebounded from that wall to the one on the other side and landed the same. He then flew again to the other wall, landing mere inches from the ground, then launched out to the space between the men and grabbed the bags from both of their hands, tucking them both to his body as he rolled to a stop and sprang up, a triumphant expression on his face, a shocked one on theirs.

"What the…what the hell?" the bigger man thundered. He turned to the younger one. "What is this?" he yelled. "Did you bring him?"

The younger one quailed at the older one advanced on him. "I…I have no idea who he is!" he shrieked. "I've never seen him before in my life!" He started to sweat, despite the chill. "How do I know that he isn't with you, huh? This could be a setup!" He turned to run, but the other man got a tight grip on his collar and slammed him to the ground, either knocking him out or outright killing him.

"Bastard," the older man grumbled as he turned on Naruto. "Give it to me, kid," he said slowly. "Don't make me hurt you…much." He pulled a gun out from under his coat and leveled it at Naruto. "Give me that bags, and I promise you that you'll live through the night." He giggled suddenly, much higher in tone than Naruto would have thought possible. "You may have to leave a few body parts here, but you'll live, at least." He took a step toward Naruto, slowly inching along the space between the two.

Naruto stepped back, not because he was afraid of the man, but because he wanted a better look at what was in the bags. He opened up the one that the man had first, and saw what he expected: about half a dozen opium plants, ready for processing into various narcotics. Naruto scowled; other drugs were bad enough, but selling raw opium on the streets was punishable by death in Konohagakure. He set that bag down close by his side and opened up the other and tilted the mouth to the sickly orange light. He saw thick bills of ryo, and plenty of it. In that one bag was more than Naruto got from the Hokage in a year! _Hot damn! I've hit the jackpot!_

"Give 'em to me, kid," the man with the gun said again as he continued his advance on Naruto.

Naruto took half a step backward, lifted his right foot, and to the horror of the man in front of him, smashed the bag of drugs beneath his sandaru, grinding it with his heel until he could feel the pulp running on the concrete. "Did you know that dealing opium on the streets of Konohagakure is a capital offense? Surely, you can't be that stupid." Naruto smiled grimly. He knew that he was egging the dealer on, but that was what he wanted. The opium dealer yelled incoherently, pulled the hammer back on his revolver, and fired his gun at the spot where Naruto's head had been mere seconds before. The sound of the gun would have rung Naruto's eardrums, but in the space of a second Naruto had formed the hand signs for a genjutsu designed to suppress sound in a given area. The gun kicked, but made no sound at all.

Naruto dived before the man could fire again, scooped up a pebble laying on the ground, and flicked it at the man, right into the muzzle of the gun. The man didn't notice the action; he pulled back the hammer, squeezed the trigger, and fired.

The gun exploded, just as Naruto had known it would. A fine spray of blood flew from his hand to the wall, the ground, and his coat. Globs of meat and bone flew everywhere as he thrashed around in silence, screaming a scream that nobody would ever hear. At least, not in this realm. His hand was a mangled piece of meat, no more than a strand of flesh that might have been his thumb before hanging from what was once his wrist. Blood was seeping from it at a steady rate, trickling from it in a steady pool to the concrete below. His other hand clutched at the stump, trying to staunch the flow, but the damage had been done. In a rage, he flung himself violently at Naruto, trying to land on top of the boy, to what purpose even he didn't know. He didn't have very far to travel; Naruto was no more than five feet away. He flew through the air like a bloody, orange meat comet, directly at the boy.

Naruto was prepared. He yanked the kunai that Konohamaru had lost to Naruto not long before out of his pocket and plunged it deep into the man's chest, smashing tissue and bone, cartilage and organ even as the man's weight forced Naruto to the ground.

Blood from both wounds on the man covered Naruto as he struggled to remove the corpse of the dealer from the top of his body. As he crawled out from the quickly cooling pile of dead meat, Naruto couldn't help but see the eyes of the man he had killed, a pale, flat grey that was even then filming over. They had a shocked look on them that had followed the man into death. He hadn't expected the night to end like this, not at all.

Naruto stood over the body, the man's own blood dripping onto him as Naruto shook his bloodied sleeves, peppering the corpse with its own fluid. _Aw, damn,_ he though as he ran a crimson hand over his clothing. _The bloody thing's ruined._ Naruto smiled at the unintentional pun. _It was getting old anyway._

Naruto heard a groan from behind him as he surveyed the body. The man who had been knocked out earlier was starting to come to, an elbow shakily trying to prop him up as a hand massaged a temple. Naruto considered briefly killing that man as well, but quickly decided against it; it wasn't such a high crime to buy opium, not nearly as great a crime as selling the stuff. _Let the man find the body of the dealer_, Naruto thought to himself. _That should be an appropriate enough punishment._

…_Well, that, and losing all of that money,_ Naruto thought with a laugh as he bounded to the roofs, moneybag in hand, on the way home.

On a roof some distance from Naruto, a man in an odd zodiac mask watched the boy deal with the opium dealer. He saw quite clearly what happened to the seller and the buyer. He was very used to bloodshed, and didn't flinch at all when the man blew his hand off like that. The man grinned behind his mask. _Guns are so unreliable,_ he thought.

He knew that his job for the night was over. All he was assigned to do that night was to keep track of the boy and make any observations on his activities. When Naruto finished with the man and headed in the direction of his home, the ANBU knew that his night was over. It was time for him to go to the Hokage and make a report. He knew that he had an interesting story to tell.

_**Admit it, you enjoyed that as much as I did, didn't you?**_the sinister voice of the demon Kyuubi chuckled in Naruto's mind. _**You tasted the blood, and found it as refreshing, as invigorating, as I did. I know you did, my little foxling.**_

_Oh, just shut up_ Naruto thought back to his permanent prisoner wearily as he unlocked the door to his small, squalid apartment. _I don't need this, not after…that._

_**After what? After your first real taste of blood, blood that's not your own? You little hypocrite. I can see into your soul; you reveled in that. **_Kyuubi smiled in his cage. _**You're no better than me.**_

With a force of will, Naruto silenced the kitsune, forcing it back into the little part of his soul that it was forced to haunt. Naruto knew that the fox allowed him to push him away. If it wanted to, Kyuubi could distract Naruto with so much noise in his head that Naruto wouldn't be able to think clearly. He was much less a prisoner than a cohabitant of Naruto's body.

Naruto quickly closed the door behind him and discarded all of his clothes, even his underwear. Each and every stitch was bathed in blood, blood from the man in the alley. It stank, too, filling the small entranceway with the raunchy scent of death, a scent that Naruto was too familiar with.

Nude, clothed only with blood, Naruto gathered all of his clothes, even his sandaru, into one big pile and went to his bathroom, blood plipping behind him all the way. Once in the bathroom, he turned the shower onto hot, full blast, and dropped the clothes in the tub. He then climbed in himself, letting the scalding-hot water coarse through his matted hair, on down his body, his legs, until finally it swirled down the drain in a psychedelic spiral of red. His eyes were suddenly mesmerized by the shifting patterns of red and pink at his feet, shifting between streams and lines dancing about each other.

Naruto shook his head vigorously, splashing hot water droplets all about him. It would do no good to think about that kind of stuff right then. If he let himself become obsessed with the residue of his killing, he knew that he wouldn't be able to go back. He knew this from first-hand experience.

The voice of the fox bubbled up once more.

_**You do like it, don't you?'**_

…_What?_

_**The colors. All of the pretty, hypnotizing colors. Red is, after all, the color of life and death, right? Ku, ku.**_

_...So what if I do? That doesn't mean that I'm like…_

_**Like what?**_

_Like you._

_**Wake up and smell the shit, foxling! You haven't even graduated yet, and how many lives do you have to your account as of tonight?**_

…_I don't want to talk about it. Just shut up. _Naruto quickly lathered soap to his body and shampoo to his hair before the hot water ran out.

_**Five, my little jailor. Five of 'em. Each one was taken by your hand, and you don't even feel guilty about it.**_

Naruto was just rinsing the suds off of his chest when the water began to lose its warmth. Damn, he thought as he quickly doused his head and felt the shampoo run over his eyes and into his mouth. Naruto spat in distaste as he idly picked up the bloody kunai off of the tub floor and twirled it around in his hand. _You are a bastard, do you know that?_

Kyuubi chuckled in his human cage. _**Of course, little one, of course. After all, I'm just…like…you. **_Before Naruto could say anything, Kyuubi sank back into his dungeon, chuckling all the way.

Naruto's dreams that night didn't bring any relief to his conscience. He didn't feel guilty in the least for what he had done—after all, if the Konoha police, or the ANBU, or even any ranking shinobi for the village had caught the man, then he would have met the exact same fate—albeit, perhaps in a somewhat different manner than Naruto had given him. Naruto's dreams, though, were plagued with the voice of the Kyuubi ringing through his ears, haunting him, teasing and torturing him. When the fox wanted to, he could invaded Naruto's dreams personally, doing to the boy in his mind what he could not do to his body.

Naruto didn't usually remember the details of his dreams, not unless the Kyuubi was a part of it. In his dream, Naruto was running through a maze of alleys, being chased by not just one Kyuubi, but a thousand of them, ten thousand of them. Just when he thought that he was free of one, just when he thought he had turned down a aisle that he thought was safe, another would appear right behind him, right in front of him, right beside him. They were all different sizes, too, some as small as a kitten, some the size of mountains. No matter how large they were, though, he would never see them coming, even if in the realm of logic, he could never conceivably miss them. Over time, as he began to wear down, miniature foxes would nip at his exposed toes, or take a chunk out of his arm, or his leg.

By the end of the dream, he was bleeding from a hundred wounds, hardly able to stay erect. At the last intersection, when he knew that he was about to die, one last Kyuubi appeared in front of Naruto. Naruto knew then that this was the real Kyuubi, the one that had invaded his dream. As it opened its mouth to swallow what was left of Naruto whole, its voice rang clearly throughout Naruto's mind: _**I'm just…like…you…**_

As Naruto was swallowed whole by the fox and felt its throat muscles squeeze and contract about the boy, crushing him into a pulp, Naruto's last thought was, _Aw, crap_.

An unrested Naruto walked down the main thoroughfare of Konoha, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Restful sleep had been impossible for the Genin-elect. Images of the Kyuubi had flown by his dreams, haunting and taunting him long after the boy had woken up from the psychological assault put upon him by the demon in his belly. Naruto never needed much sleep to be alert for the next day, but with the fox plaguing him all night long, it had been impossible for him to get even the minimum requisite amount.

It was when Naruto was once again rubbing sleep from his eyes that he noticed a place that he hadn't been in a long while—the Ichiraku ramen stand that he had gone to many times in his childhood before he realized that a diet of three servings of ramen a day wasn't very good for a growing boy—especially not a prospecting shinobi.

Still, Naruto was hungry, especially since he hadn't had time to make himself much of a breakfast, just a slice of toast with some butter. His stomach seemed to agree with his mind, as it growled as soon as soon as he passed the stand and smelled the enticing aroma wafting out from under the stall flap. Naruto checked a nearby clock; he had over forty-five minutes before he had to be at the Academy. With a grin of anticipation, he ducked under the flap the doubled as a sign and was pleasantly surprised that the seat that he had thought that he had vacated for good over a year ago that was his regular was unoccupied, although there were patrons to each side, one old man and a woman in her early twenties. He sat down between the two; as soon as the old man saw Naruto and recognized him, a look of disgust crossed his face. He threw a few bills on the counter and left his half-finished bowl on the table.

Naruto frowned and sighed as the man left. Almost everywhere he went, something like this happened to him. No matter how many times it occurred, Naruto just couldn't get used to the feeling of rejection the others put upon him. It wasn't that he cared a damn about the people themselves…but it did get old after awhile having people treat you like you had the plague or something.

A snort from his left reminded Naruto that he wasn't the only one at the bar. He looked at the woman, and was surprised to discover that she wore a Konoha headband on her forehead. She wore an odd outfit for a shinobi; instead of the standard jumpsuit-and-vest combo preferred by most Chunin and Jounin, she had on a body stocking that seemed to be a metal fishnet weave with not much on under it and a tan trench coat over that. Her purple hair was tied up on top of her head in a spiky 'do, giving her the appearance of a pineapple. Naruto snorted at the mental simile, but only just. He sensed that this woman wasn't any ordinary shinobi, but one of quite a bit of power, even among the high-ranking squad.

"What're you laughing at?" the pineapple-haired shinobi asked pointedly, menacing Naruto with a chopstick as she chewed a mouthful of noodles.

Naruto snorted again. He didn't care if she was a Jounin; she seemed to be all right. "Well," Naruto started, "you laughed at me first, so I think that I should ask that particular question right now." Naruto paused, waiting for the kunoichi to respond to his reply. Would she go off on him in front of a crowd of people, many of whom were watching at the moment?

Naruto was saved for the moment by the daughter of old man Ichiraku, the resident barhop Ayame. "My god, if it isn't Naruto!" she practically squealed with delight. Ichiraku and Ayame were two of the few people in the village who didn't treat Naruto with contempt. Ichiraku knew that the demon in his belly had nothing to do with the person Naruto was, and passed his sentiments onto his daughter, who treated the boy as a surrogate little brother for much of his childhood. Indeed, Ayame had come to Naruto's defense several times in the past, from defending his name from those who would speak unkindly of the boy to defending his body from those who would hurt him for circumstances beyond his control.

"Hey, Ayame," Naruto said sheepishly. He had always liked the girl, but was sometimes embarrassed by her flamboyance in his regard. She always seemed to overdue it whenever it came to the smaller (though not by much) boy. "Long time, no see."

"I'll say!" the girl exclaimed as she leaned to prop her elbows on the bar, her eyes staring intently into Naruto's. "How long's it been, about a year?"

"A bit more," Naruto answered, a blush of embarrassment on his face. Every one of the patrons at the stand were staring at Naruto intently, many of them with amusement, but a few with thinly-masked disdain or hostility. Ayame seemed to realize where Naruto's attention was drifting. Composing herself somewhat, Ayame stood erect.

"So, what'll it be?" Ayame asked, taking a paper pad out of her apron, a pencil seemingly appearing out of nowhere. "The miso's good today, but so is the beef and the shark fin variety."

"Um…I think that I'll have the miso, if you don't mind," Naruto said as he eyed the clock hanging above the grill. "Could you hurry up a bit, please? I'm gonna be a bit late myself if I don't hustle myself."

Ayame's smile brightened. "Of course, Naruto-kun." She shouted over her shoulder at her father. "Daddy! Guess who's back? Naruto!" she exclaimed without waiting for her father to answer. She ruffled his hair as she went off to place his order. "We'll have your food to you real quick, Naruto-kun!" she said as she went out of earshot to speak to her father.

A few moments of relative silence followed her departure, quickly followed by a clamor of murmuring voices in the stools. Heads bent together, Naruto guessed, to talk about Ayame's rather robust pronouncement. That is, all save for the woman at his side, the purple-haired kunoichi. After stirring the dregs of her ramen for a few moments, she turned her attention back on Naruto.

"So, you're the Uzumaki kid, huh?" she asked, somewhat redundantly. She took a sip out of the tea cup that sat in front of her. "What's the big rush?"

Naruto smiled slightly; she seemed to have forgotten that she was about to start grilling Naruto for information on another subject entirely. "Well," Naruto began, "today's graduation day at the Academy."

"Really, now? Isn't that interesting?" She took another sip of her tea. "You think that you'll pass today?"

Naruto snorted. "Of course I'll pass; what do you think I am, stupid? All you have to do to pass is to be able to perform a simple Bunshin, and you're home free!" The blond looked sideways at the woman. "Give me a little bit of credit here, will ya?"

The woman nodded. "Okay. You'd think that someone with your…reputation…would be able to pass something like that, is all." She smiled again, as if at some private joke, and tossed a few bills onto the table and stood up to leave. "See ya around, kid," she said over her shoulder as she left.

It wasn't until she was about twenty feet away that Naruto realized something. "Hey, lady, what's your name?" he called out to the retreating figure.

The woman stopped for just a moment and looked back at Naruto. "Call me Anko," she called. "Anko Mitarashi."

Naruto felt a chill crawl up his spine as she disappeared into the crowd; he had heard of this woman before. She was a Tokubetsu Jounin of high rank. He had just had a chat with one of the village's legendary sadist, and had come out of it unscathed. Naruto suppressed a shiver as his breakfast was delivered by Ayame; he knew just how lucky he was.

Naruto made it to the Academy just in time after leaving the ramen stand. Ayame insisted that the noodles for Naruto for that day were free, as a welcome-back gift. Gratefully, Naruto accepted, as he had forgotten his wallet at home,

The Academy classroom was almost full by the time that Naruto entered the room. Some of the students milled about the room talking to each other, while others sat in their seats, solitarily contemplating the day. A couple of familiar faces, Naruto noticed, were absent from their usual seats: the Akimichi, Chouji, and the Nara, Shikamaru, protégés from two of the most powerful _hiden _clans of the village. Naruto looked at the clock on the wall. _Only three minutes left,_ Naruto thought to himself. _Where can the porker and the layabout be?_

As if to answer his unspoken query, the classroom door burst open, Shikamaru pulling Chouji by that ridiculous scarf he always wore. _Ah,_ Naruto said to himself with a slight smile. _Now I see._ Chouji was carrying an armload of snacks: potato chips, cakes, muffins, pork rinds, and even what appeared to be a whole melon.

"Come on, Shikamaru!" Chouji was saying as the slimmer boy of the pair. "It's not my fault I was hungry! I hardly had any breakfast this morning!" With that, Chouji plopped down in the nearest available chair and began devouring the spread on the desk in front of him.

The usually stoic Nara gave Chouji a lazy glare. "Chouji," said Shikamaru, "I was at your house this morning. I was in your kitchen. I pulled you out of the house, and you were still chewing what looked like your third helping of potatoes." Shikamaru sighed and sat down next to his best friend. "You can be such a drag sometimes." Chouji wasn't listening, as he was blissfully deep into his second bag of potato chips.

Naruto turned his attention away from the comic antics of his classmates and scanned the room for another one of the academy students, the last Uchiha, Sasuke. The last in the village, anyway. There he was, the "elite" Uchiha, sitting at the front row, with half of the girls in the class fawning over him. To his credit, he was doing an amazing job of ignoring them, a difficult feat with two to his side, two behind him, and one sitting on the desk, basically obstructing his view of the front of the class.

The girls vying for his attention were, of course, Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka. Man, those girls were annoying. Naruto had the same attitude toward women that Shikamaru did: they were more trouble than they were worth.

**Want to make some trouble? **the Kyuubi asked, speaking for the first time all day.

Naruto paused. _What kind of trouble?_ the blond replied. If allowed to run free, Naruto knew that the fox could get out of control. If allowed the use of his body, Kyuubi could very well graduate from nuisance to menace.

Kyuubi sensed Naruto's wariness. **Fear not, I will not harm those tasty little morsels,**Kyuubi purred. **I'll just make them stay away from the Uchiha, is all.**

_Oh, really,_ Naruto scoffed mentally. _And how will you pull _that _trick off, Baka-kun?_

**You'll find out, kip. Give me your eyes. **Curious as to what the fox could be planning, Naruto relinquished control of his eyes to the fox. From his perch from the top of the classroom, Naruto had a clear view of each girl fawning over the raven-haired Uchiha.

A curious itching behind his eyes alerted Naruto that the fox was now in complete control of them. He could feel the red chakra seeping gently through them, flowing across the room like dust in the wind, malicious intent heavily laced on every iota of chakra. It wasn't killing intent that the fox was drifting through the room to the girls—to do that to multiple targets at once on purpose, Naruto would have to be staring the girls in the eye. Instead of killing intent, Kyuubi was sending the _promise _of bad things to come if the girls didn't immediately find something else to do. Of course, they didn't consciously realize what was going on—but they suddenly felt very, _very _uncomfortable with Sasuke.

Naruto chuckled as the red chakra dissipated throughout the room, spreading the residual bad feelings to several of the other students of the class. Shikamaru and Chouji were some of the closest in the class to the girls and Sasuke. Shikamaru gasped in open amazement when Chouji, quite suddenly, put his fifth bag of potato chips on the table and said that he didn't want to eat anymore.

The fox was laughing uproariously as he relinquished control back to his _jinchuuriki. What did you do?_ Naruto asked the fox.

**Oh, I merely made sure that that Sasuke wouldn't be getting any attention from any of those little **_**girls **_**any time soon.**

…_Could you teach me how to do that, Kyuubi-san?_

**Oh, "san" is it now? Learn to suck up a bit better, and I might just do that… **With that, Naruto felt the fox sink back into its cage deep within his mind—or, to be more exact, it was probably in his belly, where the seal was stamped on his body.

Naruto thought on what had just happened with his eyes. It had been a technique that was ocular; did that qualify it as an doujutsu, on par with the Sharingan and Byakugan? After a moment's consideration, Naruto decided to himself that it didn't, as it wasn't an inherited technique, and as of yet, he couldn't do it by himself. True, if demonic chakra was necessary, Naruto was the only one able to perform it in the village, but Naruto didn't have the ability to control his chakra as finely as the fox did.

Naruto's musings were brought short by the entrance of his two teachers into the room, Iruka- and Mizuki-sensei. As it was the last day of the class, there was an air of excitement that even the two of them seemed to pick up on. They sat down at the desk at the front of the class, heads bowed together in private conversation, although Naruto could probably figure out what they were talking about.

_They're trying to figure out who'll pass, and who'll fail,_ Naruto thought to himself with a smirk on his face as he sat down at the nearest desk, next to the only girl in his class with a kekkei genkai, Hyuuga Hinata. She turned to look at who had taken her adjoining seat, and when she saw the black-clad Naruto next to her, let out a small yelp. Naruto knew that she was actively afraid of him, more so in the past few months than before; he couldn't understand why, exactly, as he had never done anything to her in his life that would merit fear.

Naruto knew that the property of the Hyuuga clan was one of those most hit hard during the attack of the Kyuubi almost thirteen years before, and she had probably picked up on the bad feelings she had for him from her parents. As Naruto watched her out of the corner of his eye, he could see a small line of sweat form across her forehead as her knuckled turned white gripping the desktop.

**Weakling,** the fox inside of the blond sneered as it reared its ugly head. **All the power of the Byakugan, and all she can do is stutter and shiver like a rabbit freshly shot with a bolt.**

_Shut up, baka-fox,_ Naruto thought to his prisoner. _You're not helping any._ Yet, Naruto had to agree with the Kyuubi; she _did _have a lot of potential as a shinobi, and, although not the weakest girl in the class, she wasn't anywhere _near _what someone of her caliber should have been.

A bell tolled in the distance; finally, class was about to begin. The class's head instructor, Iruka-sensei, stood up and walked to the front of the class. The Chuunin calmly let his gaze sweep over the students of his classroom, taking note of each and every pupil he had. "Well," he said with a smile, "congratulations on making it to this day, the last day you'll have with me as your official sensei.

"Your final exam—the last test to determine whether or not you become a Genin for the Leaf village—is today. When your name is called, come through the door to the adjoining classroom. Until then, wait here." He turned to the classroom door in question, then stopped. "Oh, yes, I forgot. Your final exam will concern your _bunshin _skills. You must be able to perform at least three simultaneous _bunshins _to pass the exam, but I doubt that you will have any problems with this. You are all exceptional students, of course."

As Iruka and Mizuki stepped into the other room together, Naruto snorted to himself in mirth. _Bunshins? Why don't they just ask us if we can throw a kunai at a target? The bunshin is one of the easiest techniques to pull off. Why would they ask shinobi who have gotten this far if they could do one of the most rudimentary techniques in the book?_

**It's simple, you imbecile,** the fox interjected. **Shinobi represent their village. If they accidentally let some little shit-stain pass and become an official ninja for the leaf, how would that make them look, huh, little fox? This test is to weed out the last of the weaklings you have here.**

_Don't call me 'little fox,' bitch-kitsune, alright?_

**Whatever**, Kyuubi mumbled as it sank back into its hole.

Mizuki opened the door and, poking his head into the room, called out "Aburame Shino." The stoic bug user got to his feet and slowly made his way to the sensei. As he passed through the door, he looked back to the class, his emotionless glasses-covered eyes passive as Mizuki shut the door behind them.

Immediately, the class broke out into rapid conversation. Naruto knew for a fact that Shino would pass; over the years at the academy, the bug user had performed the _bunshin_flawlessly many times, as any ninja of their rank was expected to do. The main topic of conversation was, of course, who would be the one student in their entire class to fail. Almost inevitably, every year, there was at least one student who couldn't measure up to the Leaf standards and was held back. Sometimes the tart would repeat the class, but much more often than not, he or she would just go back to their parents after wasting four years of their life throwing shuriken. Roughly twenty-five percent of Konoha's adult population who weren't already shinobi had, at one time or another, taken the academy courses and failed before they earned their leaf headband. While some of them were bitter about flunking out of the course, most came to realize that not everybody was cut out to do the tasks that a shinobi was supposed to carry out—assassination, espionage, and the like. Not everybody was cut out to be a cold-blooded killer—hell, Naruto didn't think that some of the people that had gotten _this _far had what it took, especially the girls, such as Hinata Hyuuga and Sakura Haruno.

Within moments, Iruka opened the door and called out for the class porker, Chouji Akimichi, to come and take his own exam. And so it went, one by one, until there were only three or four left in the classroom. Not a single student had come back, so nobody knew who had passed or who had failed. Only Naruto, the lone Uchiha, and Ino Yamanaka remained in the room. An uncomfortable silence hung between the three Genin-elect; Sasuke had always despised Naruto for what he was, and Ino didn't seem to like a single boy in the class except for, of course, the raven-crested Uchiha, who was himself mostly indifferent to the girls.

Ino seemed to want to spark up a conversation with Sasuke, so she slid into the seat right next to the boy, blushing slightly as she did. She got closer to the boy than he would have liked, but he didn't make any move to get away from her. "So, Sasuke-kun," she purred, "I know _you'll_ pass, that much is a sure thing, but who do you think has failed this year 'round?"

Sasuke hummed for a moment. "Dunno," he said. "Most of us, I know for a fact, can produce at least one bunshin. However, a few of the others have trouble with multiple clones. I guess it all comes down to who is weakest in concentration of us all. Youichi might have trouble with it, I saw him struggling to maintain just two clones the other day, and they could barely move."

Even though Sasuke couldn't see it, Naruto nodded in agreement. Youichi, one of the few non-clan students of the academy, had shown a natural aptitude for genjutsu early on in the academy, but nearly no skills in ninjutsu and even less in taijutsu. But he stayed, barely passing year after year, passed more out of pity than any real hope of the boy becoming a ninja for the Leaf.

Youichi had never shown the same hatred toward Naruto that many—or most—of the other students of the Leaf had thrown to the boy. Although not a very good ninja, as far as practical abilities went, Youichi had a remarkable memory for ninja history and tradition, two of the subjects that Naruto was lacking in. Youichi had let Naruto cheat off of his work in those subjects a number of times, giving Naruto the top overall scores in the class, just behind Uchiha Sasuke.

The reason that the Uchiha held the top score in the class and not Naruto was, in fact, because Naruto didn't want to have the top scores; those who seemed to be the best of their rookie year seemed to get a bit more attention than they wanted. Take Hyuuga Neji, for instance: he was the pride and shame of the Hyuuga clan. As a member of the branch family, he should have been overlooked by the others. Instead, he stood out like a sore thumb as being vastly superior in fighting abilities than any Hyuuga his age, even his junior by one year, Hinata; perhaps even the strongest any Hyuuga had ever been at that age.

So, Naruto was happy to take a back seat to Sasuke, in this instance only. Even if he had wanted to be tops in the class, Naruto wasn't so sure that he would have been able to bring his problem subjects up enough to take the limelight from the "dark avenger." _Let him have his glory. Let him see how…troublesome…it could be with people after you, wanting to be the one to take down the "elite" Uchiha._

There was another reason that Naruto had let Sasuke be the overall best in the class: exactly what would the parents of most of the students in the class say if they knew that the best they had was the village jinchuuriki? All in all, it was better for him to keep as low a profile as possible.

Within a few moments, Iruka-sensei opened the door to the other classroom and called out for Sasuke. He grunted in acknowledgment and silently made his way to the instructor, Ino making doe eyes at the back of the boy. The moment the door closed, however, the environment in the room immediately changed: Ino had never made it a secret that she openly and intensely disliked Naruto, not for what was in his body—she was one of the few people in the village that acknowledged that that was outside of his control—she just didn't like him for the fact that he was the only one who could ever best her precious Sasuke-kun in an even fight during practice. In her eyes (and the eyes of most of the girls in the class) there shouldn't be anybody who could be better than Sasuke—at anything, period. The cold shoulder was always pointed frostily at the demon boy, chilling even him to uncomfortable extremes.

A few silent moments later, Mizuki-sensei opened the door. "Come on, Naruto, your up," he said with a smile. Naruto nodded at his teacher and descended to the lower floor. As he passed Ino, he surprised himself by saying "Good luck" to her as he walked away. Naruto didn't have to be a psychic or even look backwards to know that a puzzled expression was sprawled across her face.

Naruto passed through the threshold on into the room, while Mizuki closed the door behind him and took his place beside his superior. On the table in front of them were four leaf headbands, all gleaming, all blue-banded. Naruto did some quick mental math: if the academy had planned for a best-case scenario and had laid out one headband for each student in the class, then that meant that with only Ino left after him, two of the students from his class had failed. Naruto was almost positive that Youichi was one of those two; who was the second?

"All right, Naruto," Iruka said, bringing the boy out of his investigative musings. "You know what to do. Three bunshins, if you please."

Naruto snorted. If the man wanted clones, he'd give him clones…but not just three. Naruto grinned wickedly, and Iruka, knowing in advance, groaned in frustration. _"Bunshin no jutsu!" _The room was filled by not just one Naruto clone…not thirty…but by three _hundred _Naruto clones. "Well?" all three hundred clones seemed to say at once, although the teachers knew that only one was real. "Do I pass?"

Mizuki had a bemused smile on his face, whereas Iruka had nothing but a scowl. "Naruto," he said evenly, although he was certainly at the edge of his patience. "What have I told you about showing off unnecessarily?"

Naruto shrugged unselfconsciously and approached the table with the hitai-ate, examining each one in turn. They all looked the same, identical down to the last detail. Naruto knew that they all came from the same shop, had been pressed by the same hands, so id didn't matter which one he took…but for some reason, he hesitated. None of the Leaf headbands on the table felt _right _to him. He didn't know why the feeling washed over him, but Naruto just couldn't bring himself to grab one of the proffered symbols off of the table in front of him. They were just too…perfect. To unstained. Most of the headbands that he had seen around the village had at least _some _wear and tear.

"Iruka-sensei," Naruto carefully began. "Do you _have _to wear a headband to be a ninja for the Leaf?"

Iruka traded a glance with his colleague, but it was Mizuki who spoke up. "I don't think that it is actually a _law _that a ninja has to wear a headband for the Leaf, but it's highly unorthodox for anyone but an undercover operative to decide _not _to wear one. Is there any reason why you don't want one?"

Naruto hesitated for a second; how could he say this without sounding stupid? "I just think," he began, "that it might not always be a good idea for a shinobi to advertise his presence all the time, even in his own village."

Iruka looked bewildered. "What are you talking about? Do you honestly expect to be attacked within the walls of Konoha?"

"No," replied Naruto. "I just…it's bad enough that I get a lot of flack for being the jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi. If some people knew that I was a shinobi as well, then things might get worse."

"But you don't have to wear it all the time," Iruka pointed out. "Just when you're on official Leaf business."

"Yes, but still…"

"Just take one and put it in your pocket, if you want," Mizuki offered. "You don't have to even wear it out of here. We can order that you wear it during missions, but beyond that, it's you're decision, Naruto-kun." Iruka nodded in agreement. Sighing, Naruto did as he was told, grabbed one off of the table and stuck it in his back pocket, taking care to make sure that one of the ribbons wasn't hanging out of the back of his pants.

Iruka nodded as the boy did as he was told. "Be at the classroom at nine in the morning," he told the younger boy before he left. "You'll be introduced to your senior Jounin instructor and teammates then. Until then, you're free to go as you will."

Naruto left the room through a side door, his back to his sensei—his _former _sensei, that is. The next day would begin his official career as a shinobi for the village Konoha. Naruto couldn't stop a slight grin from forming across his lips. He just _couldn't _wait.

* * *

Well, what do you think? Any criticism-as long as it is constructive-is welcome. That's about it. Have a nice day.


	2. Rising Action

Hey everybody! I just wanted to take some time and say thanks to everybody who reviewed the first chapter of this fic. There were a few technical difficulties; like the idiot I am, I accidentally double-posted the first chappie, and although it's been a while since that happened, I really haven't had a chance to fix it, for reason's beyond my control.

Naruto: Liar! You were just too busy doing other crap! Like looking for the best stories to copy off of on here!

Me: Uh, Naruto? What the hell are you doing here? I'm trying to give an introduction you insolent little twerp!

Naruto: Just keeping you in line you teme!

Me: I don't need you to keep _me _in line! You're the one who can't be trusted in the same room unsupervised with a bowl of ramen!

Naruto: (sweatdrops) Uh…what you talking about?

Me: You know what I'm talking about! I was asking you about the rasengan yesterday, and when I left you stole my ramen! I love my ramen and you took it!!! (Grins evilly)

Naruto: Uh…Jim? What are you doing? Get your fingers away from that keyboard!

Me: TOO LATE!!! THIS IS FOR THE RAMEN YOU DOBE!! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND…DRUMROLL PLEASE…(BUDABUDABUDADADADADADA)…NARUKO!!!

Naruko: NO!!! NOW I'M A WOMAN!!! (Looks down at chest and grabs chesticles) Wow! C-cups! Thanks! Kishimoto Masashi only ever gave me B's! Thanks a lot! Now, all I have to do is avoid that damned Ero-Sannin... (sees glint in my eye) NO!!! YOU WOULDN'T DARE!!!

Jiraiya: YEAH BABY!! WHERE'S THE PARTY YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT, JIMBO?!?! (Sees naked Naruko and promptly passes out from nosebleed)

Naruko: YOU PERVERT!!! (Kicks prone Sannin) I hate you Jim! **Rasengan!**

Me: Troublesome. (Sighs) Ctl/Alt/Del

Naruko: NO! DON'T DO THAT UNTIL THE STORY'S DONE! I STILL HAVEN'T KILLED OROCHIMARU YET AND YOU PROMISED ME I COULD!!!

Me: You moron! I told you to tell _nobody _about that! Now everybody will know that that's happening, nobody will want to read the stupid story to the end!!

Naruko: Hey, give me some credit! At least I didn't tell them about the Nation of Beasts or anything like that…Oh damn!

Me: Just shut up you idiot!!! You're ruining the whole thing before we can get even ankle-deep into the story! Just shut the hell up and get to you're apartment so we can get the story going, okay?

Naruko: Okay, okay…um, Jim? Can I ask a favor?

Me: (Sighs) What do you want now, idiot?

Naruko: Um…much as I like them, can we lose the jugs? I think that I'm a dude in this fic, and a bunch of people may wonder what's up with the mammaries and…uh…other stuff, you know?

Me: Okay, I guess. (Taps keyboard) Now you're a man again. But don't think that that's all there is! You and I are gonna have a _very _long talk when this is all over, understand?

Naruto: Yeah, yeah, I get it. Now on with the show!

* * *

Oh yeah, before I forget, I don't own Naruto, some Japanese guy does…if I did, I would be swimming in money. Literally, I would get a pool an fill it with one-dollar bills. Yeah baby. Oh, by the way, to see my gripes about disclaimers, see bottom A/N.

* * *

Chapter 2

The sun shone like a flaming comet as it hurtled its way to a slow but inevitable collision with the tree-lined horizon. Naruto's face was bathed in its blood-red rays as he sat atop the roof of his building, perched upon the edge of the structure as he slowly fondled the leaf headband given to him earlier in the day by his sensei, Iruka. As his thumb traced the groove of the spiral part of the Leaf, Naruto though about the events of the day, and what it would mean to him and his future.

On the one hand, Naruto had known for as long as he could remember that he would one day be a ninja for his village. It was the only logical course, being the container for the demon bijuu. The monster in him literally screamed for bloodshed, raging against the walls of its jail in Naruto's body, the lust of battle and conquest nearly overpowering him at times.

Naruto had never had a problem with fighting, or even killing, when the situation had called for it. Within the past two years, Naruto had had to kill five different men, in five different situations—one had been a civilian merchant trying to hurt him because he was the unwilling jinchuuriki, one had been trying, in ignorance to mug him, and a third had been a complete accident, a man just old enough not to be called a boy wanted the glory of being the one to destroy the demon menace of the Kyuubi. All three of those men had been killed in the heat of battle, with the rush of adrenalin pumping through his veins, the charge of blood in the air to aid his desire to vent his darkest deeds. In a village such as Konoha, you attack someone at your own risk; with a population of more than three thousand shinobi, the quickest way to die is to anger the wrong man.

The other two that Naruto had killed, though…they weren't so simple as an attack upon himself gone wrong. Of those two, of course, one was the death of the man just the night before, the man who had been caught peddling his opium on the street to the nervous wreck of the man with him in the alley in the sickly light. No Konoha magistrate would have even brought Naruto to trial—not that they wouldn't have _loved _to get the demon boy on the bench—because, the simple fact is, if anyone is caught committing a crime much greater than fencing stolen goods, _any _ninja, of _any _rank, has the authority to bring justice into their own hands. True, Naruto wasn't yet an official shinobi, but for the crime of peddling drugs on the street, nobody would bring that to the attention of anybody who would care about such a little detail.

The last death of the quintet, though, was not as simply cut and dried as the others had been. With all the others, even the case with the drug peddler, Naruto had to make a decision quickly, with no warning. This time, though, the murder hadn't been a matter of "get him before he gets me." He had had to do something he'd never done before—fight for the sake of someone other than himself.

A few months beforehand, Naruto had been prowling the rooftops of Konoha in the dead of night, just as he had done for the past few months. The sound of splintering wood and shattering glass had caught his attention in an alleyway not unlike where he would later find the drug dealer, except this one was much more poorly lit; only someone with the keen senses of a natural stalker of the night would have been able to make out more than shapes and shadows overlapping each other in the darkness.

A panting, high-pitched heavily breathing body passed the point on top of a low-roofed building where Naruto had set himself to see the show. A child, not very much younger than Naruto himself, ran flat out across the broken gravel and glass of the lane floor. Behind, but gaining quickly, was what was unmistakably a shinobi; Naruto could sense the powerful chakra just beneath the surface of the man's skin.

The child looked back to see her pursuer, at the exact moment that looking backward was a decidedly foolish idea: in her haste to spot her stalker, she slammed harshly into the brick wall that marked the proverbial and literal dead end to her escape route. Naruto heard the sickly _thud _of meat impacting an unyielding surface at a high speed, winced, and watched the child collapse quickly to the sharp, unmerciful surface of the ground, blood flowing gently from a minor head wound.

Her stalker slowed from a run to a walk. He may have been in a hurry to catch the girl (to what purpose, however, Naruto didn't know) but he wasn't foolish enough to blunder around in the dark. He paused just a few feet from the girl as he rummaged in his bum equipment pouch. With an audible _snap! _a flashlight's beam shone over the girl laying prostrate at his feet.

Naruto had to withhold a gasp of astonishment, so as not to give away his position to the enemy ninja, for not one, but _two _shocking revelations made their way through his mind. First, the girl on the ground was none other than Hyuuga Hanabi, younger sister to Hinata (and possible heir, if the rumors were to be believed) of the Hyuuga clan. Naruto knew this because even though she might have been stunned or even unconscious from blunt head trauma, the light shining in her face easily exposed the half-open creepy all-grey eyes of the inactive Byakugan, and there was enough of a resemblance between her and his classmate for him to connect the dots.

The second shock, though, was perhaps even more stunning, if only for the pure audacity of the event: the shinobi making a slow approach to the prostrate girl wore the hitai-ate of one who came from the hidden Cloud village, from the land of Lightning.

_Shit, _thought Naruto. _A million times, shitshitshit. This is bad. Very, very bad. _The implications of this were enormous: nine years before, a diplomat from the Cloud had come to the Leaf to sign a peace treaty. It was all a ruse in an effort to kidnap the youngest Hyuuga, Hinata, to steal and study the Byakugan, presumably to copy the kekkei genkai abilities given to the clan.

That plan was narrowly thwarted, however, when Hinata's own father had killed the man in the kidnapping attempt, nearly beginning the Fourth Great Secret Shinobi World War, for war was indeed in the making with the Cloud; tensions were already at a high with other villages so soon after the war with the Rock village. The only major hidden village that Konoha could truly trust not to stab them in the back was those from the Mist, and that was only because they were so weakened by the corruption in the bureaucracy of the village that they were almost in danger of losing their status as a village where the leader could truly call themselves a "Kage."

War had narrowly been averted, although Naruto didn't know all of the details of the deal Konoha had made with the Cloud village, but from what little he _did _know, however, it was safe to assume that because of it the rift between the Main Branch of the Hyuuga and the Cadet Branch had grown even larger and more impossible to gap.

Naruto didn't know what to make of this; obviously, the Cloud were making another play at the Byakugan. The Cloud village had been built in an area some sixty years beforehand in an area with plenty of skilled shinobi of individual and hiden abilities, but precious few kekkei genkai blood to supplement their forces. As a result, they had always been envious of other villages with a high population of shinobi with a bloodline limit, especially Konoha, a place where it seemed you couldn't spit without hitting a member of a powerful and influential clan.

Naruto had never considered himself a hero, but he had always considered himself a shinobi, and the first duty of a shinobi was to defend his home and his village—at least, that was what his teachers had always told him in his classes. Naruto didn't know if he really believed that, or even agreed with it, but he would be _damned _if he would let a war start when he could have done something about.

Just as the unknown shinobi was picking up the girl, Naruto made a decision that could have had grave consequences: he jumped off of the roof and landed some five or six feet behind the Cloud shinobi, not bothering to mask his presence; in a constricting passage such as this, that would be nearly impossible.

In the scant few seconds that he had, Naruto took in all that he could about the shinobi; he had a kunai and shuriken pouch on each hip, plus a bulging bum pouch on each cheek. Those, plus the two samurai-style swords strapped to his back, indicated to Naruto that the man was a weapons specialist, a problem to Naruto, as he had not so much as a shuriken on him.

The vest he wore, too, told the blonde that the man was at least a Chuunin; like Konoha, the Cloud ninja were only permitted to wear the vests once they had gained the rank of Chuunin or higher. Naruto gritted his teeth; he knew that he was light-years ahead of his classmates in pure skill, but he still only thought that he was, at best, as strong as a low-level Chuunin at best himself. If the man before him was a Chuunin, Naruto thought, with a little luck, he might be able to take down the man before he could get away. If he was a Jounin…well, he would probably be lucky to get out of the alley alive.

Naruto put on a front to show the confidence that he knew that he didn't really have. "You know," he began, "tensions between our villages are high-strung enough as it is." Naruto inched a little bit closer as the man slowly continued to pick up the slender girl. "Do you really think that a set of eyes are worth it to start a war?" As Naruto talked, the man—who was actually quite larger than Naruto's first guess had placed him—chuckled lowly. His voice, when he spoke, sounded as if it belonged to an older man, placing him well beyond the age of most Chuunin, confirming Naruto's worst fears: the Cloud had sent in one of their top shinobi to abduct the Hyuuga.

"We'll not be having a war, I am thinking," the man said as he shifted the weight of the girl to one arm, "_because there will be no witnesses!!!_" In a flash, the man dug his left hand into his hip holster to bring out and throw a flurry of nearly-invisible shuriken and kunai. In the darkness, at point-blank range, in a darkened alley, against any other opponent, the barrage would have certainly caught the victim in a bloody surprise. The man, however, was not facing any ordinary opponent—

He was facing the demon of the Leaf, Uzumaki Naruto, who was _anything _but ordinary.

Naruto had thought that the man would try to hit him with shuriken, but he hadn't expected him to be so fast. As with many larger shinobi, he was swifter than he appeared. Naruto had barely cleared the minimum necessary air it took to avoid the attack and remain in one piece by the time the shuriken passed. It was uncomfortably close, as one kunai actually managed to clip a lock of hair from his head as he completed a flip in the air.

The unnamed shinobi dug into his bum pouch with his still-free hand and flung another volley of sharp, unpleasant gifts meant for Naruto's flesh at the place where he estimated Naruto's flip would take him within the second, but they only met empty air, as Naruto had had just enough time to slam his arms and legs out to the sides to the walls of the narrow lane, just in time to dodge the second volley of shuriken as it sailed inches over his head.

Something dripped onto his face, his upper lip, in the split second he held himself stationary in the space a few feet above the alley floor. The drop smelled both rancid and sweet at the same time. One sniff and Naruto panicked; he recognized the compound from one of his lessons he had taken just a few months beforehand. It was a powerful poison designed to first immobilize, then destroy. Naruto didn't remember what it was called, but he surely remembered the effect it had had on the mouse that had been forced to swallow just one drop of the noxious chemical: first it had convulsed with short, spasmodic twitches, then blood had seeped out of every orifice. The sensei—not one of the regular instructors, but a specialist on loan from the Hokage's office—said that although it was a common enough poison, there was no viable antidote, as it began to take effect immediately after it entered the bloodstream, and there was no way short of miraculous medical ninjutsu to remove it from the system. Even, if in the rare occurrence, a medic-nin was able to extract the poison from the body, the shinobi—or anyone else who was poisoned—would be crippled for life.

For the first time, true panic set in as Naruto got as far away from the man before he could mount another attack. He didn't know just how much a lethal dose of the poison was, but he was willing to bet that even a single drop of the stuff would not be anything like good for his body. Quickly and carefully, he wiped the drop from his lip, taking extreme care not to let it settle or smear on his lip.

The man hefted Hanabi onto his considerable shoulder, a moan escaping her lips as her weight settled. Naruto was willing to bet that all of the man's weapons were practically _soaked _in the lethal substance, including the swords upon his back. With that kind of armament, he _had _to be a Jounin, maybe even an S-ranked shinobi. The man hefted the girl into a more comfortable—for him—position, and advanced on Naruto, a smirk evident on his lips even in the near-black.

"Run away, boy," he growled as he advanced on a continually retreating Naruto. "I'm thinking that I be _way _outta your league."

A cold hand gripped its fist about Naruto's innards. Never before had the blonde known such fear. The killing intent was rolling off the man in waves that crashed down about Naruto so hard that he was surprised that every ninja in the village wasn't rushing to the rescue.

Naruto struggled to maintain a distance of at least ten feet between himself and his anonymous assailant, seemingly to no avail; for every step that he took, the man took two, and _his _strides were decidedly larger than Naruto's. Naruto couldn't risk attacking the man, for fear of hitting Hanabi. In all probability, the man would try to use the girl as a shield against anything that Naruto might try to do to him. Yes, he had a few techniques that might've been able to at least _stall _the larger man, but with Hanabi riding on his shoulder, Naruto didn't dare do anything to provoke him.

In any case, Naruto knew that the man probably didn't need her alive; his village's scientists would probably be able to replicate the Byakugan just as well with a dead subject as with a live one, probably better, in fact. And despite his taunt to Naruto just moments before, he had no intention of letting the boy run away. On of his shuriken _had _to get lucky, eventually. All it took was a single nick, and fate's path was set.

Shuriken—Naruto paused just inches from the wall that marked the left turn into the alley where he had found the man and Hanabi. Several kunai and shuriken dotted the floor of the aisle, but most of them protruded from the wooden wall behind Naruto, forming a deadly pincushion barrier at his back. If the man used his trick one more time, Naruto knew that he would be done for; the man _would not miss again._ There were no parallel walls here for him to prop himself against, and if Naruto tried to retreat down the other alley to escape the man, he would just be hunted down and sniped at the man's leisure. The _only _way to save Hanabi would be to defeat the man right then and there, but without a single weapon on him, that would be nearly impossible—

The proverbial light just went on in Naruto's head. He had all the weapons he needed—the man had given him everything that he needed. Quickly and carefully groping behind him in the dark so as not to get cut himself, Naruto plucked as many kunai as possible from the wall, taking heed to avoid the shuriken. Once all the kunai were removed (about a dozen and a half, as far as Naruto could tell) and Naruto was sure that as many as he could hold were in his hand, he leapt into action.

Jumping and twirling acrobatically, Naruto leapt in a tight arc over the man's head, aiming a slash at his head. Quicker than Naruto had thought, the man was able to unsheathe his sword with his free left hand and angled it to block both blows aimed at his face. For an instant, Naruto shut his eyes and mouth and tried not to inhale through his nose at the clang of striking metal rang out through the desolate battlefield. Poisoned drops of death spattered the air, hitting his lips, nose, and eye-lids. Naruto didn't know the effect of the poison when it made contact with the eye, but he was willing to bet his manhood that it was by no means a very good thing at all.

Only a few drops of the poison hit his lids, so before he even landed, Naruto had wiped them from his face and was able to open his eyes. Unfortunately, it seemed to Naruto that the man had managed to avoid ingesting any of the poison; he just seemed really, really pissed off. For Naruto, pissed off was good. It was exactly what he needed, in fact. If his plan was going to work, he needed the enemy shinobi to be mad as a bull in a castration barn.

One by one, Naruto slung the kunai from his hands at the feet of the man, the only unexposed parts of his body, save for the face. If he was lucky, a poisoned kunai might be able to pierce a part of the foot through the open-toed sandaru, but he wasn't counting on luck alone to win. He was just counting on making the man as distracted as possible, so as to forget about the danger behind him, and focus on the problem _before _him.

Step by step, Naruto was forcing the man back, foot by foot. In an open environment, with more space to work in, Naruto was positive that he would have easily been overtaken by the Cloud-nin, but Naruto had no intention of giving him any sort of advantage whatsoever. Naruto planned to win the fight by any means necessary, even if he had to do it by dishonorable means; not that poisoned shuriken were honorable to begin with.

Naruto tossed three kunai in a broad pattern, forcing the man to within inches of the wall, keeping the last two in his hand in reserve. He stopped just short of the wall; apparently, he understood the precarious position he was in. Within a few scant moments, he had gone from being the hunter to the hunted, a situation that he most _definitely _did not like one little bit. His breathing became heavily labored all out of proportion to the amount of activity he had undertaken; even in the dark, it shouldn't have been that hard to fight someone who wasn't even a Genin yet. He seemed to know that he should have easily been able to outclass Naruto, but due to his size, in the tight environment his movements were severely restricted.

He still had the girl as a bargaining chip; that was one obstacle that Naruto wasn't sure he knew if he could get around. If he was to defeat the man, she would either have to be removed from him…or she would have to go down with him. Naruto grimaced at the thought of the latter; the only reason he was fighting this fight was because he didn't want to get the girl killed. Unless he was extremely clever very soon, he wouldn't be able to save her.

In a flash, Naruto realized something: the man _couldn't _use his remaining kunai and shuriken, not with his right hand busy holding the girl on his shoulder. Also, the brace of swords on his back indicated that he was probably only skilled in the use of double-bladed attacks. Sure, he was probably _proficient _at using one, but that wasn't his greatest skill. Moreover, if he was right-handed, a one-handed fight with his left hand would leave him at a distinct disadvantage, even against someone as comparatively weak to him as Naruto. Lastly, if he were to unsheathe his sword, he could only make two moves with it, due to his size: a stabbing thrust, which, unless it caught Naruto completely by surprise, he would be able to dodge with relative ease, and an up-to-down, vertical slice. To do any of that, Naruto would have to be within about a six-foot range of the man.

Naruto smiled grimly. _I guess I'll have to give him what he wants,_ he thought to himself as he prepped himself for what he knew he had to do. If he was right, he might, he _might _be able to save Hanabi. If he was wrong, then they would both die. That was a risk Naruto had to take. There was no other choice.

Naruto took a deep, cleansing breath to nerve himself for what he had to do. Without warning, Naruto shot into the air, kunai reverse-gripped in his hands as his jump took him on an intercept course with the Cloud-nin, daggers aimed at his face.

Faster than Naruto would have given him credit for, the man shifted his stance from a defensive state to an offensive one, putting as much power into his slash as possible, the keen poison-lined edge of his blade aimed right at the center of Naruto's skull.

Naruto crossed the kunai above his head in an effort to catch to sword's descent; he succeeded, but the force of the swing was great enough to slam Naruto immediately down to earth. If Naruto hadn't been expecting exactly this and drove every ounce of chakra into his legs as possible, his legs would have probably buckled, if not broken entirely. As it was, one of his shoulders nearly dislocated itself as it compensated for the shock put upon it by the shinobi's swing. Naruto gritted his teeth, but held steady, to the surprise of the Cloud-nin.

_Now, _Naruto thought, _while he's off-guard. _Even as the shinobi was shifting his grip to renew his attack on Naruto, the boy shifted his own stance—the kunai in his hands flattened themselves against the blade of the sword and, with a deft twist that even Naruto couldn't imagine pulling off, the blade flew through the air to land somewhere to Naruto's behind.

Shock at being disarmed seemed to paralyze the weapons specialist. Unless he shifted his cargo to his other side, an act that would leave him open for precious seconds, he was effectively disarmed. Before he could formulate a counterattack, however, Naruto was on the move: once again, he jumped into the air and aimed a viscous stab at the man's left shoulder. The Cloud-nin managed to catch the wrist before it connected, but was unable to compensate in time for the other kunai directed at his face.

The man panicked; whatever his mission, he obviously didn't believe that it was worth his life. He flung the girl off his shoulder in an instant and caught Naruto's other wrist, Hanabi falling to a heap behind him, a savage snarl of victory crawling across his face.

Naruto knew that this would happen, and knew that there was only one way for him to win the fight. He had counted on the man getting rid of Hanabi in favor of his own life. Thus, while both of Naruto's hands were occupied, his feet were free to do as they pleased. He scrunched his body up, drawing his knees to his face, and instantly shot both feet out at the man's face.

Normally, this kind of blow wouldn't be a fatal strike, but this situation was anything but normal. The man stumbled back a step…and seemed to forget all about the girl that he had been trying to kidnap. He stumble backwards, tripped over the girl—

To a waiting shuriken ready to smash its way through the back of his skull as he fell. The throwing star tore through skin and tissue like paper, ripping its way through bone like a saw through balsa wood. The man's weight bore him down to the ground, more shuriken digging themselves into his head, neck, and back as he fell. Almost immediately, he began to spasm and jerk, as the poison began to take effect. Naruto could actually _hear _the havoc the poison was wreaking inside of his body as he lay dying on the ground, hundreds of miles from his home. Naruto pulled a still-unconscious Hanabi out from under the man's legs just as the second effect of the poison began it's process: the blood oozing out of every orifice it could find. No matter who had saved her, Naruto was sure that she would not appreciate in the slightest a mixture of shit, piss, and blood staining her clothes.

Naruto began a swift search of her body to make sure she hadn't been nicked by any of the blades that littered the ground. Sparing no modesty, he examined every area that might have become exposed to the ground. Luck seemed to be with her—as much as luck can _be _with anyone who had just been the subject of an attempted kidnapping—and had come out of it unscathed, save for the earlier wound which was still bleeding.

Just how did she come to be attacked by the shinobi? Where had she been? Was she all alone, or had she gotten separated from her family somehow? These questions raced through Naruto's mind, but were immediately erased from his memory by the arrival of a new character in this little drama of his.

"Is she okay?" a voice behind Naruto spoke out just as he finished up his examination of Hanabi, nearly making him jump out of his skin with shock. This voice sounded much lighter and younger than the mysterious Cloud-nin's.

Doing his best to hide his surprise, Naruto carefully picked up the stunned Hyuuga up in his arms. Naruto hadn't heard or sensed the man—or was he still a kid?—sneak up behind him; therefore, he had to be a shinobi of fairly high caliber. If he was another Cloud shinobi, Naruto knew that he wouldn't stand a chance: this time, instead of being on the offensive to save the girl, he would be forced to do nothing more than try to outrun his pursuer.

"She's alive," Naruto replied, turning around to examine the newcomer. Naruto relaxed—only slightly—when he saw the trademark terracotta mask of the village's black ops squad, the ANBU, gazing neutrally at the scene. The white robe with the cat mask seemed out of place, until Naruto realized that the cape and cowl marked him as a captain of a squad.

_Holy shit, _Naruto thought as he straightened out, shifting Hanabi into a more comfortable position, for both her and him. _What's he doing here? _Instead of voicing his thoughts, he said, "Just how much of this have you seen?"

A soft chuckle escaped out from under the enigmatic cat zodiac mask. "Everything," was the short reply.

Naruto bristled. "_Everything?_" He took a step toward the ANBU, anger apparent in his face. "You could have helped!" Naruto shouted. "I almost died fighting this guy—" Naruto spun and savagely kicked the corpse of the man whom he had just very recently been locked in mortal combat with, "—and you just had to find a nice seat to enjoy the show!" Naruto took another step toward the ANBU, then another, until they were toe-to-toe, the only thing separating them the limp form of Hanabi in Naruto's arms.

"I wasn't…enjoying the show," the masked ANBU said carefully and calmly, "although you did do very well for yourself in your first real fight against another shinobi."

"I DID REAL WELL?!" Naruto shouted, the echoes bouncing back off the stone walls on either side of him. "I could have died! _She _could have died! And all you did was sit back and watch! Why didn't you help?"

The ANBU's reply came as a shock to the blonde. "I, and all other ANBU, are under orders not to interfere with any confrontation you find yourself in." There was something of a smirk in the man's voice as reality dawned on Naruto: the ANBU hadn't found Naruto by accident; he had been tailing him, perhaps all night.

"Am I being followed?" Naruto asked. "Am I being watched by the black ops to make sure that shit doesn't happen to anyone?"

"No," said the cowled figure. "You're being followed…to make sure that nothing happens to you. You're a very high priority for the village, you know."

"What do you mean?" Naruto demanded.

"Think about it," the ANBU said, self-satisfaction evident in his words. "You and the demon within can be an awesome weapon _for _the Leaf…or a devastating weapon _against_ the Leaf. There are those who would try to take you to make you theirs." The man walked past Naruto, brushing him slightly with the folds of his cloak, to the man who once had been alive in the alley. Carefully, swiftly, the ANBU rummaged through his pockets, for what, Naruto didn't know. Evidently, he found what he was looking for, and stood up to again face the boy.

"Do you know who this man is?" the ANBU asked Naruto.

Naruto snorted. "We didn't really stop to make ourselves acquainted," Naruto pointed out, sarcasm heavily laced upon his tone. "Mostly, our relationship was one of hostility."

The ANBU hummed and held out a slip of paper for Naruto to read. "Most ninja," he explained, "carry some sort of personal ID on them, just in case this sort of thing ever happens." Naruto read the kanji on the slip: Kurama Tatsuya.

"Who is he?" Naruto asked, feeling as if the ANBU already knew.

"He's a shinobi for the Cloud," began the ANBU.

Naruto snorted. "I think I already figured that one out," Naruto shot at him.

The ANBU sighed. "Yes, but that's not the whole story. Do you remember the fiasco nine years ago when the Cloud diplomat came to the village under false pretenses to kidnap the other Hyuuga child, Hinata?"

Naruto nodded, encouraging him to continue.

"Well," continued the ANBU, "we nearly went to war with the Cloud, right then and there. The only reason we didn't was because the Hyuuga worked out a deal with the Cloud government: in retribution for the death of the diplomat, they wanted the body of the Hyuuga clan leader. The Hyuuga elders were outraged, of course, but it was the only thing that they could do to avoid war.

"Hold on," Naruto said. "Hinata's father is alive! I saw him just last week!"

The ANBU nodded. "That's right. Instead of sending the leader of the clan, they sent his identical twin brother to his death at the hands of the Cloud. And guess what? He was in the Cadet branch of the Hyuuga house."

"But what does that have to do with this guy?" Naruto asked.

"This is…was…the Sandaime Raikage's brother."

The enormity of the situation hit Naruto like a sack of bricks. "This is bad," whispered the boy softly. "This is really, really bad. I just killed the brother of the Raikage. I just started a war."

"No," said the ANBU firmly, "_I _just killed the man attempting to abduct Hanabi."

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto, confused.

The masked man sighed. "And they told me that you were smart," he grumbled. "Let's put it this way: which would be better for the village, a boy who hadn't even attained the rank of Genin killing the brother of the Raikage, or an ANBU killing an anonymous shinobi who had no ID on him attempting to kidnap the child of one of the village's strongest clan leaders?"

After a few moments of contemplation, Naruto replied. "I think I'm beginning to understand," Naruto said slowly. "If we can officially claim ignorance of the man's identity, then we have absolutely no way of confirming whether he had ever entered the village."

The ANBU nodded. "And even if he had been sent here on an official mission by the Raikage," he continued, "the Cloud wouldn't dare to attract attention by mounting a search for little Tatsuya here."

"But what happens now?" Naruto asked. "We can't just make the body disappear, can we? And what about Hanabi?"

Naruto could sense the grin on the ANBU's face. "Watch and learn, little man," he said as he shook his hands free from his sleeves. "This is how the pros do it." Chakra seemed to flow to his hands as he rubbed them together. A moment later, they began to glow like a lantern. He pressed both palms against the wall to the left of the shinobi's body, and two palm-shaped spots appeared on the wall, illuminating the ground in a ten foot radius.

The ANBU pulled a vial out of his bum pouch and popped the cork loose. A hissing sound escaped, and Naruto could see some sort of steam jet into the air. "What is that?" Naruto asked, curious.

"This," the ANBU said with a flourish, "is a handy little tool just recently developed by Konoha R&D." He tipped the contents of the vial over onto the body of Tatsuya. Instead of some sort of acid, as he had been expecting, large, bean-shaped _things­_ fell onto the dead shinobi. They were apparently alive, and Naruto had to stomach a wave of revulsion as the _things _burrowed their way into the body.

"What the _hell _are those things?!" Naruto exclaimed loudly as the last of them sunk its way into the flesh.

"These," the ANBU said with a certain amount of pride in his voice, "are so new, they don't even have an official name yet, but we in the ANBU like to call them the 'Ravagers.'" He stepped back from the body as the skin began to bubble and convulse. "Nobody but the people who made these things know exactly what they are, but they're probably some sort of mutated bug spliced with a nasty little demon.

"The way they work is quite elegant. When they're in the jar—this—they aren't even alive yet. They only truly awaken when exposed to fresh air. Their first instinct is to eat, eat, eat, which makes them so damn useful in body elimination. But the true beauty of these babies is that they can never be satisfied; as soon as they eat, it goes through their digestive system and comes out the other end, pure acid, which in turn dissolves more of the body. With enough of these critters, an entire body can be disposed of in about five minutes, and unless it's metallic, anything on the body is immediately so much biological slag."

"What happens when they're done?" Naruto asked.

"They die," the ANBU said bluntly. "To survive, they have to eat constantly. As soon as they finish eating, they die, eliminating the chance of one of them getting loose. And when they die, they get dissolved by their own acid, making the chance of an enemy ninja getting their hands on one of them absolutely zero." A certain amount of pride made its way through his voice. "Practically the perfect shinobi tool, they are."

Even the clothes were getting dissolved in the process. By then, there wasn't anything left of the man that could identify him as such, besides bits of metal, and, of course, the Cloud plate that had been on his headband.

A series of high-pitched squeaks signaled to Naruto and the mysterious ANBU that the Ravagers had done their work and had met their final destiny. "Back up a bit, would you?" the ANBU said as he held out his hand, fist clenched. Naruto did as he asked, Hanabi held tightly in his arms, as the air about the ANBU's fist seemed to shimmer.

At first, Naruto didn't see what was happening, but he quickly realized that every shuriken, every kunai, and every bit of metal that had been on the Cloud-nin was gently making its way to the ANBU's outstretched fist. At first, Naruto thought that he might be using chakra strings to manipulate the items, but that was impossible; to do that, extended fingers were necessary to control the strings. Instead, it seemed that he was generating a magnetic field about his fist, drawing the metallic objects to his fist like—well, like iron filings to a magnet.

Soon, except for the puddle of goo and impact marks on the wall where the kunai and shuriken had embedded themselves, there was no sign that a battle had taken place there. The ANBU placed the projectiles in a satchel at his side, careful not to get nicked himself, and closed the flap. He wiped something on his robe and handed it to Naruto: the Cloud plate of the ninja that no longer existed. "Here," said the ANBU. "Consider it a trophy, the spoils of war." Naruto wordlessly accepted the plate and put it in his pocket as well as he could with Hanabi still in his arms.

"What about her?" Naruto asked, indicating the prone girl.

The ANBU hummed. "Well," he said, "I suppose the official story will go something like 'ANBU on patrol spotted stalker chasing girl, killed stalker, saved girl.' That's assuming that you want to stay out of this, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto hesitated. "Yeah," he said after a moment. "I don't think that it'll help my reputation very much if it got out that I killed a Cloud-nin, even if I _did _save a Hyuuga girl. Matter of fact," he said with a frown, "things would probably get worse for me, in the long run."

The ANBU nodded in agreement. "That was what I was thinking as well," he stated. "I'll have to make an official report to the Hokage, but besides for him, nobody will know that you had anything to do with this. Satisfied?" When Naruto nodded his affirmative, the ANBU continued, "If you'll give me the girl, I'll make sure she gets to the hospital safely. That head wound isn't fatal by any means, but I'm sure she would want us to stop the bleeding." Naruto handed the girl over to the surprisingly gentle hands of the ANBU. Was it his imagination, a trick of the light, or did Hanabi's eyes flicker as he made the handoff? Naruto dismissed it as a result of poor lighting, but wondered…

The ANBU prepared to make a leap to the roof of the building, but was stopped by Naruto. "Hold on," Naruto said. "What's your name?"

Naruto could have sworn that the man smiled beneath his mask. "You know that I'm not allowed to give my name to anyone not my superior," he said, "and only three or four people in the village actually outrank me."

"But what should I call you?" Naruto asked. "You must have a code name, right?"

The ANBU sighed. "If you must call me anything, you can call me…Neko. That should be sufficient." Without another word, he used the Body Flicker technique to vanish from Naruto's sight.

_Neko, huh? Cat…I like it. I'll see you later, Neko. You can count on that._

Naruto shook his head vigorously to clear his mind off of the first real fight that he had ever had. Things had worked out okay; there was never so much as a buzz as to the attempted abduction of Hanabi, and the situation with the Cloud never reached a point where the two nations were in danger of going to open war. The cold war that had gone on for years proceeded as normal, each village quietly undermining and sabotaging the other in bids for power, but overt confrontations remained nonexistent.

The sun had set, blazing its way down past the horizon, with only the faintest shimmers of light poking their way up past the trees far off in the distance. Already, the stars in the greater part of the eastern sky were showing themselves proudly in the cloudless weather.

The air was uncommonly warm that evening, considering that it wasn't even officially summer yet, so Naruto had on little more than shorts and a t-shirt. After spending all day in Konoha, surprising himself by shopping for new clothes for the next day and a new set of kunai and shuriken, he just wanted to relax for the evening to conserve his strength for the next day, a day which would certainly be anything but easy.

The weapons had come standard, but the dress was by no means normal for what Naruto usually wore. Normally, Naruto tried to blend in with basic black: black shirts, black shorts in the summer, black pants in the winter, and no jewelry to speak of, not even a necklace.

That all changed late in the afternoon soon after a return trip to the Ichiraku ramen stand for lunch when he passed a relatively new clothing shop specializing in "odd" fashions. In this place, "odd" meant "look at me, I'm different from you and I want everybody to know it."

Normally, Naruto didn't go out of his way to draw attention to himself, and the shop's wares were pricier than he normally let himself consider buying, but with a grin he remembered the sack of ryo at home and realized that, at least for now, money was no object.

Naruto didn't have the money on him at the moment, of course, so he had to make a quick detour to his apartment to dig the bag out of its hiding place and pull out a thick wad of cash, several times more than he could ever imagine spending in one afternoon. _Better safe than sorry, _Naruto thought with a smile as he stuffed the money in a pocket, put the bag back in its hiding place, and almost ran out of the door.

He only just made it to the shop before it closed. If he had taken another few minutes to get there, he wouldn't have made it in time; in fact, the manager was already taking stock of the register when Naruto walked past the threshold.

Awe crept across Naruto's face as he beheld the walls, shelves, and stands that filled the room and all the merchandise that just seemed _perfect _for what he wanted: to finally stand out on his own terms. There were shirts with such lewd designs on them in one corner as to be bending public decency laws in some of the more conservative countries, while an entire wall was devoted to earrings, nose rings, and anything else metal that could be put somewhere in your body.

"Can I help you?" a young woman in the middle of the room asked Naruto as she made her way toward the boy. Late teens, maybe early twenties was what Naruto placed her at, with enough metal on her face—or _in _her face—to make it a hazard for her to be around any strong magnets. Magenta hair framed an otherwise normal, if cute, face. A black tank top sported an insignia that Naruto wasn't familiar with, the background pattern emphasizing her already generous bust. Her jean shorts were more normal, but her sleeveless top and legless bottoms exposed a virtual canvas of ink; all along one leg, a stylized, stretched-out Leaf symbol disappeared into her shorts, making Naruto involuntarily wonder where it ended. Naruto blushed, then answered the striking woman.

"Um…yeah, I think so," he said. "I-I'm not quite sure what _exactly _I'm looking for, but I'm positive that it's somewhere in this shop." Naruto took another look around the store, bright and dull colors framed equally on all sides by the darkest of blacks, despite the decent lighting in the place. With a smile, he said "Yeah, it's most _definitely _somewhere in here."

She nodded knowingly. "This your first time in here?" she asked, sweeping her arm about the empty store.

"Yeah," Naruto said, "but I've heard a lot about it. Do you guys actually do piercings here?"

She laughed. It was a pleasant laugh, totally out of character with the persona she put out with her appearance, bubbly and happy, not dark and creepy like the _oni _on her left bicep. "Yeah, we do, but if you're fifteen or under, you have to get a parent to sign off on it."

By the look on Naruto's face, she must have known that she had touched on a sore spot, and quickly changed the subject. "So, you looking for clothes or something? Whatever it is, I'm sure we can help."

"Um, I'm not exactly sure," Naruto said. Indicating his basic all-black look, he said "This is just about my entire wardrobe. I was hoping to…spice it up a little, if you know what I mean."

The girl nodded again. "Yeah, I get you," she said. "Hold on a moment, would ya?" She went to the door that the manager had disappeared into just a moment before and stuck her head in. "Hey, Keiko! We've go one more customer in here, but I'm going to flip the sign, okay?"

"Dammit," Naruto heard from the other room. "I just got done taking inventory, too."

"I'll take care of it later, ok? You can leave if you want, I'll just lock up and all that when I'm done, cool?"

"Sure," came the lackluster reply as the girl disappeared into the room for a moment, returning a moment after a _thud_ told Naruto that the manager had left the shop out the back way. The girl returned holding a clipboard in one hand and a pen in the other. She went to the door and flipped the sign from "OPEN" to "CLOSED" and went back to Naruto.

"Okay," she said after a moment of just looking at Naruto. "Just what kind of style do you want? Black will never go out of fashion, but I get the feeling that you want just a little bit more than black."

"Yeah," Naruto said, idly leafing through t-shirts on a nearby rack. "I want something that just says 'I'm me and nobody else,' you know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I do," she said. She seemed to realize that they still didn't know each other's names. "Oh, I'm Sayame, by the way," she said, holding out her hand.

"Naruto," the blonde replied, grasping her hand. She had a surprisingly firm grip, stronger than Naruto might have thought. "Uzumaki Naruto." He waited for the widening eyes that usually marked the recognition of his name, the revulsion to creep across her face as she realized just who she had alone in her store with her…but it never came. To Naruto's disbelief, she merely completed the handshake, and spoke. So stunned was Naruto at having perhaps the only adult in Konoha who didn't know his infernal reputation talking to him, he completely missed what she said the first time around.

"Uh…what was that?" Naruto asked as soon as he realized that she had asked him a question.

"I said, what sizes do you wear? Out usual customers are usually older than you, but we do have a good selection for the younger crowd."

Naruto hurriedly rattled out his measurements to Sayame as his eyes roamed the store; everywhere he looked, something caught his eye. Between the black of many—if not most—of the clothes in the store, and the glint of metals on the jewelry hanging on the walls and racks, it was nearly an impossible choice to make just _what _he wanted there above anything else.

Sayame, meanwhile, was busy puttering about the shop, picking up and putting down various objects, approving of some and discarding others. Within moments, she had a large selection of different styles of shirts, shorts, pants, and accessories in her arms. She bore down on Naruto with an almost maniacal glint in her eyes. Sifting through the clothes in her arms, she thrust two shirts and shorts into the boy's arms, steering him toward the dressing rooms. "I loved playing dress-up with my little brothers back home," she explained with a laugh as she opened the men's changing room, "but they hated it. Because of them, though, I got a good eye for color coordination and fashion, which translates well into this place. You have no idea at all just how many ways there are for you to mismatch black with black." She rolled her eyes at the thought. "Anyway, just put these on—this shirt with these pants, then later, put this one on over these shorts. Change, then come out to me." She pushed Naruto into the room, shut the door, and walked a respectable distance away; after all, nobody would like someone standing outside of their door while they were changing, would they?

A few moments later Sayame heard the door open and Naruto come out to the main part of the store. If she hadn't known that it was the same boy, she might have thought that someone had switched themselves with the kid. In his plain black ensemble, Naruto was barely noticeable. Now, however—he had truly transformed

A little taller than normal at his age, Naruto was able to fit men's small shirts, and had almost grown out of children's sizes altogether. The outfit he wore now, however, made him look, if not more adult, then more prominent. On the front of the ebon shirt was a white flame outlined in bright cherry red, inlaid with a deeper blood shade. The black jean shorts sported short chains connecting the pockets across the waist and along the back, with a black, spike-studded belt already in the loops along the top. The black choker that she had placed in the bundle of clothing was now cinched around his neck, a useless artifact that nevertheless seemed to be made for him.

"Wow, Naruto-kun," Sayame breathed. "That looks pretty good on you." She slowly walked around the boy, examining him from every possible angle. "This'll definitely get you noticed, all right."

"Really?" Naruto asked, craning his neck to check out his body from every angle possible. "You mean that?"

The older girl smiled as she nodded her head in affirmative. "I don't see how anybody could ignore you if you walk into a room anymore," she confirmed.

Naruto turned to look over his shoulder in the mirror at his back, admiring himself, grinning the whole time. "I like it," he said, turning to the girl. "I like it a lot." Without prompting, he grabbed the rest of the clothes out of her hands and went back to the dressing room. Closing the door, he put on another outfit, and when it came to Sayame's approval, he tried on another, then another.

Finally, Naruto had tried on everything the girl had picked out for him and decided to buy most of it. As she rang up the total bill (Naruto winced slightly when he saw the number, but decided he didn't care, as it wasn't really his money) Naruto's eyes strayed over to the rack of earrings.

"Hey," he said as Sayame finished putting his purchases into the canvas bags bearing the store's logo, "do you think that you have enough time to give me a piercing?"

She paused in her bagging. She sighed deeply, eyes darting left and right. "I told you already," she said, "if you're under fifteen, you've gotta get a signature from a guardian." She bit her lip. "Really, if I could, I would…"

Naruto turned his eyes down. "I understand," he mumbled as he pulled out a wad of bills to hand to the girl. As the money protruded from his pocket, however, his Leaf headband fell out onto the floor. "Oops," Naruto mumbled as he shoved the stack at Sayame and bent over to pick up the symbol of his village. Naruto felt his ears turning red; he hadn't wanted Sayame to know he was a shinobi. He knew it was foolish, but for some reason, he didn't want her thinking of him as a ninja, a killer; for once, he just wanted to be known as a kid in a store, shopping for clothes.

"Oh!" Sayame breathed. "Are you a ninja for the Leaf?" she asked Naruto as he busily shoved the hitai-ate back into his pocket.

Naruto sighed. _Here we go,_ he thought. "Yeah, I am. You got a problem with that?"

"No," she said, a slight smile playing across her face. "Actually, that makes things a bit easier for you." She smirked at the confused expression on his face. "Do you know about the Shinobi Minor Statute?"

"No," said Naruto, confused. "What is it?"

"Well," said Sayame, "it goes like this. For most people, you have to be a certain age to do something, if not legally, then morally. For instance, while you technically may be able to _have _sex, someone your age shouldn't really be thinking about actually _doing _it. In any case," she continued as Naruto's face turned red from embarrassment, "shinobi are treated differently than the regular population, including the kids. The Minor Statute was put in place some forty years ago because there were a lot of young and talented shinobi who wanted to be on equal grounds with their elder peers who got pissed off a lot when older ninja told them that they couldn't do certain things just because of their age."

Light shone in Naruto's eyes, giving them a new glow that hadn't been there moments before. "That means…" he said as he unconsciously fingered his left earlobe.

"Yep," Sayame said with a smile as she held up one of the agreement forms and ripped it in two, down the middle. "You can do just about anything you want. If you want a piercing, follow me, and let the fun begin. I hope you can handle the pain…"

Naruto chuckled. "Don't worry. If a pansy like Shikamaru can handle it, so can I." Naruto didn't catch the knowing flash in Sayame's eyes. If he had, he just might have changed his mind…

Naruto toyed with the silver stud in his ear as the chill air whipped through his golden locks. Though not as crisp as the night before, the wind still made the blonde shiver.

Although it could take days, or even weeks for anyone else to heal their ears after a piercing, Naruto only took a few minutes after the needle passed through his lobe before he was trying on different earrings. Finally, he settled on four simple pieces; one miniature Leaf symbol, one Tragedy mask, one rhinestone stud, and the silver. The silver actually came free with the piercing, but for some reason, it was the one he liked the best. Although he wanted to stand out, he didn't want to draw _too _much attention to his ears…someone might get the bright idea of ripping the ring off of his ear in a fight, creating a distraction that they could use to their advantage.

Motion caught Naruto's eye: on a rooftop several hundred yards away, a shinobi with an enormous scroll strapped to his back bounded away from Naruto's home, toward the training areas. Naruto looked back toward the way the shinobi came from—the Hokage's tower. Naruto focused his eyes on the fleeing shinobi, and with just a bit of early moonlight, he was just able to catch the face of the bounding ninja: his former classmate, Youichi.

_What's going on?_ Naruto thought. _This cannot be good._

And he was right.

* * *

A/N: Hey everybody. So, how did you think it went? Not bad for a second chapter, is it? I'm really sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, but I just got kinda lazy with it, but I swear that I'm not ditching it or anything…I have way too many ideas for this to go to the ground. I mean it, I already have an outline for all the way to after the timeskip, and perhaps beyond. 

Which brings me to my first query of the fic: I want everybody's opinion on something. There are a few mini-arcs in the Narutoverse that I like that are technically non-canon but I think should be, and some movies that most definitely should be canon. The Waterfall arc is a good example of the anime filler that I like, and my favorite movie has gotta be the Snow Rescue special. I have plans for redoing both of them…but that is where you come in. I'll probably only do one, and I want you, the reader, to judge which one I do. Do you want the Waterfall, or the Snow? Of course, I'm leaning toward one over the other, but _I _certainly won't tell anybody which one it is. It's your job, people, to decide which one I do over, in my own words. Or, if I decide, I just may do both, but that will only happen if it's a close enough vote that I have to get the Bush Administration to step in and "count" the votes… Not that I'm saying anything about my political affiliation, of course…

Anyway, my gripe about the disclaimers, as followed: I think that, yes, they are at times necessary when people try to claim material as their own, and people who do that kind of thing are total dicks. There, I said it: plagiarists should rot in literary hell (in other words, the future Bush presidential library cough cough). But, when you get further into a chapter, by the time you are on the third or fourth chapter you really don't need another disclaimer saying that this chapter, as well as the preceding ones, are works of fiction based on established material. So, take a good look at the top of this page real quick at the disclaimer. Go ahead, I'll wait a few minutes. There, done? Good. That's probably the last time you'll see one in this fic. If that breaks a rule somewhere I don't know about, Kishimoto can sue me. I really hope that that doesn't happen, as I have to believe that he has some amazing lawyers over there in Japan (and here in America, now that I think about it) and I can't really afford rent, so I'm really screwed on that front.

Gotta go people; it's pretty late and I gotta get up in the morning for work. The third chapter is actually mostly written by now, and minor spoiler…Kakashi _is _Naruto's Jounin sensei, but he isn't the _only _one. Yes, I will let you stew on that one for a while, just because I'm evil. Heh heh heh. Orochimaru has nothing on me be-yatches. Night to all, and to all a good night.

9574 words.


	3. Rising Moon

**Chapter Three**

The wind whipped through Naruto's hair as he bounded from branch to branch in pursuit of the fleeing form of the blonde's former classmate.

Curiosity taking the better of him, Naruto had gone into his apartment to quickly put on a pair of shorts, a pair of sandaru, and a tank top. After a moment's consideration, he strapped a kunai and shuriken holster to his hip; he didn't know exactly what was going on, but if the commotion from the other side of town was any indication, something major was going down, and Naruto didn't want to be caught off-guard.

After picking up the trail of Youichi, Naruto decided to keep his distance from the boy; he didn't know why he was running away, but Naruto was sure that it bode ill for the boy. The scroll that Naruto had seen on the back of his friend looked to be of the kind that only high-ranking shinobi held in their possession; some sort of summoning contract, or a scroll of high-level jutsu. Naruto knew that Youichi didn't come from a shinobi clan of any sort, so that meant that there was only one way he could have procured the item:

He had to have stolen it.

As these thoughts flashed through Naruto's head as the rhythmic **thump, thump, thump **of his feet hitting large tree branches in his race through the forest. It was easy enough to track the other boy—the trick of the matter was to stay far enough behind so that Youichi wouldn't detect Naruto before he decided the time was right. For all his lack combat skills and lack of a clan, Youichi was a competent tracker and knew when he was being followed.

_What's going on here? _Naruto thought to himself as the wind whistled in his ears, each bound carrying him further and further away from the village proper. _What's in that scroll that's worth stealing? Whose scroll is it? Why would he do it? And, most importantly, who told him where to get it? _ The last musing put a chill into Naruto's spine. Just the idea that someone would betray their clan to give a washout shinobi wannabe a high-level scroll was a disturbing thought. If it was indeed a clan scroll, it would come from one of the hiden clans; Naruto knew personally from conversations with Shikamaru and Chouji that techniques in their clans were taught from scrolls such as those. Kekkei genkai clans, however, as he understood it, were usually taught almost entirely from memory, from parent to child. Of course, Naruto knew that there had to be _some _record of those family jutsu, but those would probably be under so much security that someone like Youichi wouldn't have a chance in the world of gaining access too.

Naruto could come to one conclusion, and one only: someone had directed Youichi to the location of the scroll. Naruto could not fathom _why _someone would do that at all; the jutsu that a scroll like that would contain would most likely contain family- or clan-only techniques, or—

_Forbidden. _That word rang through Naruto's skull, causing him to nearly miss a branch and fall to the forest floor. He managed to get aloft safely, but had to now concentrate on what had just seconds before had been instinctive. Forbidden jutsu and the scrolls they were stored in were housed in the Hokage's tower, right in the Hokage's office. Naruto knew this because he had been in the office of the Hokage on several occasions, sometimes to receive a stern lecture from the old man, but more often than not just for a checkup. The old man liked to keep an eye on Naruto and have a chat with the boy every now and then, if for no other reason than to make sure that he was doing well, eating right, that sort of thing.

If it was indeed a forbidden scroll, then Youichi must have broken into the Hokage tower and stolen it right out from under the nose of everybody there. _How could he do something like that? _Naruto silently asked himself as he accelerated to catch up to the other boy as quickly as possible, not bothering to try to hide his presence from Youichi. _That shows some pretty intense infiltration skills. Did they really let someone like that get away from the academy? A shinobi with that kind of structure infiltration skill, even without decent fighting skills, could be an asset to the village. Is it possible that they don't know about his skills?_

Naruto didn't think that it was likely that this part of his skill-set was overlooked or unknown; the Academy put their students through a pretty rigorous skill assessment periodically, if only to keep track of what students to pull out early, or to give special training to. _Either they didn't think that he was important enough to take to special training,_ Naruto thought, _or this information was overlooked. But why would that happen? Who would want to do that?_

Naruto's musings were cut short as he quickly caught up to Youichi. Stopping a few trees behind the boy, Naruto saw Youichi crouch on the ground a few feet away from an old shack. The pale yellow light emanating from the worn-out bulb contributed to the full moon in the sky, giving ample illumination in the small clearing for Naruto to see what Youichi was doing.

The other boy was unfurling the scroll on the ground just under the light on the worn-out bulb, the better to read it by. From the looks of it, from what Naruto could see, a length of the scroll as long as he was tall was devoted to the explanation of a single jutsu, but was unable to make out a single word on the stolen kinjutsu diagram. Naruto sighed; he hadn't wanted to make himself known to the other boy so soon, but it seemed that Naruto had no choice. He wanted to know what was going on—just what he was doing with the scroll was a good question to start with. Just as he was about to leap from the branch he was perched on to the ground, however, a barrage of kunai flew from Youichi's fist to the spot that he had been an instant before.

_Damn, _Naruto thought as he landed on the ground, hands held above his head in a non-threatening gesture, _he found me out._ "Calm down, man," Naruto called out as he walked to Youichi. "I'm not here to fight you or anything." _Yeah, mainly because I would kick your ass and hand it to you on a platter if we did,_ Naruto thought to himself as he advanced on the boy.

"Oh, Naruto," Youichi said, letting out a sigh of relief as he let himself relax. "It's just you." A sheen of sweat visibly covered his face, beads of moisture dripping down his cheeks. While he had been a student at the academy for as long as Naruto, he didn't nearly have the stamina that the blond did; all that tree-hopping must have really taken it out of him. Even now, after he had stopped his movements, he was still laboring for clean, even breaths. After seeing him in this condition, Naruto seriously wondered how someone like him could have lasted this long in the academy. This was a relatively short distance from the village of Konohagakure, a trip that many, if not most, students made on a daily routine.

"What's going on, Youichi-kun?" Naruto said, dropping into formalities. "Why do you have that scroll with you, and why did you steal it from old man Hokage?"

A startled look crossed Youichi's face. "H-how did you know I took it from the Hokage's office?"

Naruto let out a victorious grin, an expression that made his friend's face drop in the realization that he had been outsmarted. "I didn't—not for sure—until you confessed," Naruto said. "Now, seriously, why did you steal it, and how did you know about it? Not many people know where those scrolls are, or how to get them."

Youichi frowned, a frightened look crossing his face as he backed up to the scroll as Naruto advanced on him. "I-he told me not to tell anyone," he mumbled. "I can't tell you. He just told me that if I could master even one of these jutsu, they would _have _to let me pass." A fire shone in his eyes that Naruto didn't recognize. "They would _have _to let me be a shinobi." He stared at the scroll at his feet as a kunai appeared in his hand. "I have to master this scroll, Naruto-kun," he said, passion in his voice. "I have to become a ninja. I have to do it to protect those precious to me. I have _nothing else._ Did you know that I'm an orphan?" The question caught Naruto by surprise, and he shook his head.

"No," he replied softly. "I didn't know that."

"It's the truth," Youichi said, softer still. "My parents were ninja, too. Neither of them came from any clan, but they both became respected Chuunin before they died…almost…thirteen years ago." A cold shiver crawled down Naruto's back, as he knew beyond any doubt what Youichi was going to say next. "They were killed the day the Kyuubi attacked."

Remorse filled Naruto as he tried to think of something to say. Youichi knew, of course, what Naruto was, what terrible monster hid inside of his body and soul. "Youichi-kun," Naruto started to say, before he was interrupted by an upraised hand from the boy in question.

"Stop, Naruto-kun. Don't apologize for anything. It wasn't your fault, and I know that—unlike some of the _other _idiots we know." A sad smirk danced on his face, as if remembering some long-ago memory. "I have to get strong—any way possible," he continued. "I have to protect those I care about, just as my parents did. To them, their 'precious ones' always came before them." Pain flushed his features. "That's…what I've been told of them, anyway." His eyes seemed uncertain as he looked up into the night. "Not that I would know firsthand, right?" A pregnant silence filled the air, each boy lost in his own thoughts, Naruto, realizing not for the first time just how many lives the demon in his belly irrevocably altered that day many years ago, Youichi, thinking almost exactly the same thing.

"Well," Naruto said after an uncomfortable moment, "what exactly do you have there?" He indicated the scroll before making a slow movement toward it. Youichi seemed to have calmed down, as he stowed the kunai in his fist away and gestured Naruto to come.

"Naruto," he said, "you're not gonna believe what's on this thing." He got down on his knees to peer closely at the inscriptions on the scroll. "The very first technique on here is a variant of the jutsu that I have the most problems with." His eyes twinkled in the night. "It's a Jounin-level jutsu that requires a large amount of chakra to pull off successfully, at a high rate. Nonetheless…I think that I could do it. I really, really do."

This sparked Naruto's interest. A Jounin technique on the forbidden scroll? Yeah, those were difficult, and Naruto hadn't managed to pull off anything more than a mid-level Chuunin jutsu, but still, he knew that if he really wanted to, and trained long enough, he could accomplish an amazing amount in a relatively short time.

Youichi, on the other hand…Naruto just didn't see how Youichi could possibly pull off a _Jounin-_level jutsu…it just didn't seem feasible. Naruto had respect for the boy, but this was reality; there was just no way that someone who didn't even qualify as a Genin could even _hope _to perform a B-class jutsu. In other words, it was just plain _impossible._

Naruto decided to humor him, though; after all, _he _had a shot at getting it down…before anybody found the two of them, at least. He decided to learn as much as he could as quickly as he could, before this golden opportunity was gone. After all, it wasn't every day that someone got to study from a forbidden scroll from the Hokage's personal office, now was it?

Naruto crouched down next to Youichi, examining the aged scroll in the pale yellow-white light of the moon and weak bulb. As his eyes took in details of the contents, they went wide in excitement. Now Naruto understood what Youichi meant by saying that it was a variant of his most troublesome technique…namely, the Bunshin no Jutsu.

The main problem with techniques taught at the academy were that they used so little chakra, and thus required somewhat of a greater level of control than they should. The Bunshin used only a bare minimum of chakra to create an illusion of the shinobi who performed the jutsu. Because of this, maintenance of the jutsu—the small amount of continuous chakra needed to sustain the jutsu—could become a problem for those who couldn't effectively handle such a small amount of chakra. It was like asking a person with big, gnarled hands to transport a _tiny _amount of water from a well to a kitchen sink when it would be so much more easy just to ask them to grab a bucket and haul it that way.

The Henge wasn't quite as bad as the Bunshin…but almost. It created an illusion to cover the body, a close-proximity jutsu. Because a ninja wouldn't have to throw the illusion away from the body, and it moved naturally with bodily movements, it was easier to maintain than a Bunshin. There was still a constant chakra drain, but all in all, it wasn't quite as difficult as the Bunshin.

The most difficult of the three academy jutsu was the Kawarimi, or replacement technique. It used up more chakra than the other two combined, and required more concentration than either of them. Still, it was the only one that every academy student could accomplish, namely due to the nature of the jutsu. For it to work effectively, all a shinobi had to do was literally _throw _their chakra at a nearby object, and drop an equal amount just behind them. The chakra would pull the shinobi to the point where he had first thrown the chakra, and the object would fly invisibly to where the shinobi had just been located…resulting in instant replacement.

The point is, sometimes, just because a technique uses only a very small amount of chakra, that doesn't mean that it isn't important…or challenging. That was why a jutsu like the Bunshin was usually used as the graduation requisite, to test whether a prospective shinobi had the proper chakra control _and _technical knowledge to effectively perform a jutsu. For someone without the ability to mold and control their chakra, a technique like the Bunshin no Jutsu, though relatively simple, would be nearly impossible.

The jutsu laid out on the scroll before the two boys, however, rattled Naruto's brain. It did the same exact thing as the Bunshin no Jutsu…and yet, it was so much more.

"_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," _Naruto breathed as he absorbed the words describing the technique. "Shadow clones…" He looked over at his friend, the same awe on his face. "Do you have any idea what this would mean?"

Youichi nodded. "Yeah, I do. Perfect copies…real clones able to physically interact…to fight. This is…amazing! Just think about it, the possibilities are endless! Create a dozen clones and overwhelm your enemies, they wouldn't stand a chance!"

Naruto frowned as he read the last part of the description of the jutsu, before going onto the details of how to perform it. "Um…Youichi?" he said, trying to get his attention before he got ahead of himself.

"Hm?"

"I don't think that it works _quite _like that." He pointed to the section in question. "It says here that a prerequisite to being able to perform this jutsu is to have enough chakra in your system to be evenly divided, at worst, between two average Genin." Naruto looked at his eyes, looking for the pain and sorrow that he was sure was to come to them, only to find a glint there instead. He was more surprised, though, when his concerns were waved off as casually as they were.

"Don't worry about that," Youichi said, voice unmistakably sure of himself. "I've got that taken care of. I've got pretty big chakra reserves already." As if nothing was wrong, nothing amiss, he again began pouring over the text in front of him.

"Huh?" Naruto said, dumbly. "What're you talking about? You and I have gone to the same academy for the past few years, right?" At his nod, Naruto continued. "And yet, you've never even _hinted_ at having more than a little bit of chakra! I mean, come on, just hopping here tree to tree almost took it out of you!"

"Well, yeah," Youichi said sheepishly, a grin on his face as he scratched the back of his head. "I've always had a lot of chakra…too much, in fact. That's why it's always been so hard for me to do some of the simple stuff, and why my control just _sucks._ Even tree-hopping is something that I can barely manage, that's how bad my control is."

He looked down at the scroll, a light again in his eyes. "But _this _jutsu, however…doesn't seem to need a lot of control at all. In fact, even _I _could do it. The chakra manipulation, really, is kid level. The only thing that makes it a Jounin-level technique is the fact that you have to evenly divide your chakra into two…or three, or however many clones you create. That could come with some complications…but with you, I don't think that there would be too many problems."

He seemed to suddenly think of something, a confused expression on his face. "By the way, with all the chakra you have…just how _do _you manage to do a plain old Bunshin?"

A flush hit Naruto's face. He knew the truth, but didn't know if he should tell his friend. While it wasn't a secret in the village that he was the container of the Kyuubi, only a small handful of people knew that he could actually tap into the chakra of the demon. He knew that not a lot of people would appreciate that knowledge, especially the friends and families of those killed on his birthday in the demon's attack. "Um," he stammered for a moment. "Just a lot of extra practice?"

Youichi didn't buy that for a moment, and the expression on his face let Naruto know it. With a sigh, Naruto looked up to the heavens, cursing any god who may be watching and listening for getting him into this predicament. "If I tell you," Naruto began, "You cannot tell _anybody,_ got that? I mean, not a soul. Only two people know about this besides me and you, the old man—the Hokage—" Naruto elaborated upon receiving a questioning look "and Iruka-sensei."

Youichi scrunched up his eyebrows for a moment. "I can understand Hokage-sama knowing, of course," he said, "but what does Iruka-sensei have anything to do with it all?"

Naruto looked away from Youichi. "It's a long story…but suffice it to say, he plays a pretty critical part in all of this. He was one of the first people in the village to ever treat me like I was a human being, not just some sort of monster." He locked eyes with Youichi. "But that doesn't really matter right now. Do you want the truth, even though you might hate me for it?"

Indecision flashed in Youichi's expression before it became one of resolve. "Yes," he said after a long moment. "I think I do."

Naruto sighed yet again. "Don't say I didn't warn you. The truth is…even though I've known for quite some time that I'm the repository for the demon, for just over two years now, I have been able to talk directly with the Kyuubi no Kitsune."

A gasp emanated from Youichi. "You mean…you're saying…" Youichi couldn't form complete sentences to save his life at the moment.

"What? That I really _am_ the demon? Get real," Naruto snorted. "I'm no more demon than a prison is its prisoner. Sometimes, something of the prisoner can escape the prison, interact with the outside world." A grin flashed across Naruto's face. "Except, this prisoner right here," he said, thumping his stomach, "doesn't get a chance for parole, _ever._ Meaning, of course, the world is safe from the 'Great Demon Lord', as he likes to refer to himself."

Still visibly shaken, but slightly mollified, Youichi asked, "So, there's no chance of it getting out, even though you can talk to it?"

Naruto huffed. "Yes, I can talk to _him_," Naruto said, emphasizing the pronoun, "but not all the time. Sometimes I can do it when I want to, but usually, only if I'm in danger, or if he just wants to rattle my cage—pun not intended, of course." Youichi nervously chuckled anyway, the thought of the great Kyuubi banging on the bars of a prison cell, playing the blues on a harmonica instantly lightening his mood. When he told Naruto what he had thought of, the blond couldn't keep a grin off of his face.

_Damn,_ Naruto thought, _I gotta remember to tell the fox about that one._

"But why can you do the regular Bunshin, even if you _can _talk to the Kyuubi?" Youichi asked. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"I'm not really sure how it works," Naruto replied. "But when I got the permanent link with the Kyuubi—that is, when I was able to communicate with him more easily—he saw how truly horrible my chakra control was. You see, before the link between us was forged, he couldn't exactly see the outside world, so he didn't even know who _I _was most of the time. All he had was the prison inside of my body, a dank, dark sewer where he was doomed to rot until the day I die." Naruto smirked. "Isn't it ironic?" he asked his friend.

"Isn't what ironic?" Youichi replied.

Naruto looked to the sky wistfully. "The greatest demon of the nine great bijuu, the most powerful beast on this planet, a god in his own right—trapped in a kid's belly."

Youichi smiled. "Yeah, that is kinda funny." He then frowned. "But that still doesn't explain just how you have so much chakra control. What's up with that?"

"It's pretty simple, really," Naruto said. "You may have noticed that I have an unusually large chakra supply. Bigger, really than any Genin, even most Chuunin." Youichi nodded, prompting Naruto to continue. "That large chakra supply" Naruto said, continuing, "at this stage in my life, instead of being a blessing, is, for the most part a big pain in the ass. Somehow, Kyuubi controls and monitors my chakra reserves for me, taking away that part of the problem. When it comes to focus, frankly, I suck. The fox makes sure that I only use just the amount of chakra that I need at the time. For instance, before I 'awoke' the fox, I would probably use about five times the chakra necessary to perform a Bunshin no jutsu. Now, with him regulating my chakra, I can do it with only the perfect quantity necessary."

"So…the Kyuubi is acting like a dam on your chakra?" Youichi asked.

"Not exactly," Naruto said. "More like…whatever chakra is used excessively is just thrown back into my chakra pool. He's more of a pipe system, a series of checks and balances against my own power.

"Have you ever seen somebody's chakra flare up around them whenever they used a pretty big jutsu, or even if they were just focusing it? All that chakra is just wasted. If a ninja has absolutely perfect chakra control, that would never happen. Chakra, like any other pure energy, is usually invisible. Electricity, even, is unperceivable to the naked eye. When concentrated in large quantities, however, electricity is turned into lightning. Heat, too, when concentrated, is turned into fire. Chakra is a raw energy that needs to be shaped properly to be used effectively. For the most part, once it reaches the point that you can see it when that's not the intention, too much chakra is being used."

Youichi's eyes furrowed. "So what you're saying is," he said, "is that it isn't _you _that has the perfect chakra control, but the Kyuubi himself?"

Naruto sighed, but nodded. "That's right," Naruto said. "But it's really the same thing, in the end. Without him, it would take me a lot longer than most other people to get the basics down. The less complicated a technique is, the longer it would take me by myself to master it. Conversely, however, the bigger it is, the more raw power needed, the less effort I need to get it down."

Youichi frowned. "Why is that? It doesn't make any sense at all!"

"Not at first, I know. But what do you think would be easier for you to master yourself—a regular Bunshin, that takes only a little bit of chakra, relatively, or a Kage Bunshin, which, using more chakra, you compensate for a lack of chakra control?"

"I…think I see your point," Youichi said. "But what if you want to learn a jutsu that requires a lot of chakra _and _a significant amount of control?"

"That's pretty immaterial for me, at this point," Naruto said. "I'll always have the fox to fall back on, so I don't need to work on my own control right now. Truthfully, I don't even need to worry about drawing chakra from my reserves; the Kyuubi handles all of that. All I really need to do is focus the chakra into fueling whatever jutsu I want, performing the hand signs, and everything's ok, really."

Youichi frowned again. "Just one more question," he said. "Why would the fox help you in the first place? Isn't he kinda…"

"Evil?" Naruto finished, earning a nod from his friend. "The truth is…yeah, by himself, he _is _kind of a bastard. Believe it or not, though, he's not gonna go out of his way to hurt me. Really, it's in his best interest to keep me alive. If I die, he dies."

"Die?" Youichi exclaimed. "What do you mean, die? You just told me that he's a god, and gods can't be killed!"

"I told you that he is a god _in his own right_, not that he really _is_ a god. In reality, though…he's closer to a demon than a god. After all, he's not called the 'Great Demon Kitsune' for nothing. As he tells it, there are about fifteen demonic clans, nine of which are composed of creatures like him—demonic animals, ranging from the Tanuki clan, the greatest of which is the One-tailed Shukaku, to the Kitsune clan, the head of which is, of course, the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the Nine-tailed fox. The other six clans he hasn't told me about much, really, but from what I know, they seem to follow the same sort of hierarchy that the great beasts do."

"But that doesn't explain why he would be killed if _you _die," Youichi persisted.

"Being immortal doesn't necessarily mean you can't be killed," Naruto said. "It just means that you are one tough son of a bitch to kill."

Youichi rubbed his temple with his right hand. "Okay," he mumbled, getting tired of the discussion, "now I'm even more confused than I was in the beginning."

Naruto sighed, exasperated. "Okay," he said, "look at it this way. Everything has to have a beginning and an end, right? Even the stars had to have had a beginning; nothing comes from nothing. Millions ago, when the world was still young, comparatively, the gods came into being, creatures of pure energy, pure magic—I want to say chakra, but what they were was way beyond simple chakra. It was…well, Kyuubi never told me what they were, but it's safe to assume that they were something you and I could never comprehend.

"Anyway, in the beginning, there were gods, immortal, deathless, ageless beings that just watched the universe float by without a care in the world. There were no wars, there were no planets, there were no stars. Just the gods. Eventually, they became tired of the tedium and began to create the universe as we know it, forming the stars in the sky, the planets around them and the creatures to live on them. Oh yes," Naruto chuckled at Youichi's face as he spoke, "we are not the only planet in the universe with life on it. Wouldn't that make you lonely? With all these gods, with all these stars, to suggest otherwise would be kind of foolish.

"One of these gods," Naruto continued, "created the earth, and in the beginning things were simple. He was worshipped, he was loved, and he was cherished. Of all the pantheon, he was one of the highest, of the most noble. Other gods flocked to his power, younger gods seeking the glory that was Him. Eventually, creatures were created by these gods on this planet, all the animals that you can imagine made by these gods, but only at the clemency of the first god, the one that created our planet…Earth. Everything—dogs, cats, birds, fish, bears…the list goes on and on. The beasts roamed the world, spreading out and about to cover the world that the first god had created, and for a time, it was good. Yes, some of the animals ate each other, but that was just in their nature, and for a time, life went on for some of those animals. After awhile, though, the first god grew jealous of these creatures and decided to construct a beast that was far greater than the other gods could conceive.

"You see, as great as these gods were, you have to understand that they had never really had a language of any sort. As beings of energy, without vocal cords, all they had to do to communicate was send a thought at each other, and the message was sent across. They had no concept of sentience, either. With nearly limitless power, just a short time after they came into being, in exchange for the power, they forfeited any real sense of self.

"On earth, though…everything changed." Naruto closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. He wasn't used to talking this much, and indeed had never said as much to anybody nonstop at one time before. He didn't even know why he was telling Youichi all of this; it wasn't necessary, but for some odd reason he felt that he deserved to know everything he did about the Kyuubi—and in conjunction, everything about life itself.

"What changed?" Youichi breathed.

Naruto steeled himself. He looked into the eyes of his friend and said only one word. "Man."

A chill crawled its way up and down Youichi's spine. "What…what do you mean, 'man'?" he asked. "Do you mean…us? Humans?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, but it's not as simple as that. Do you have any idea what the difference between us humans and most other animals is?"

Youichi hesitated for a moment, but Naruto let him think. After a moment, Youichi seemed to get the idea. "I think I know. Is it…the soul?"

Naruto nodded, proud of his friend. "Exactly right. The soul is the most powerful source of energy in the universe. It is what defines a person, the proverbial 'I' so to speak."

"Source of energy?" Youichi said. "What do you mean?"

"I'm getting to that. I told you that the lesser gods, the ones visiting earth didn't exactly belong here. They created the creatures of Earth using a relatively small bit of power. They remained great—perhaps not quite as great as they had once been, but to an immortal, what's the difference?

"But the first god eventually grew jealous of the other's creations. Over time the jealousy seethed inside of him, growing to a point that made him bitter. He was a god of creation, not a destroyer, unlike some of his brethren, so he felt no desire to eliminate his brother's and sister's creations. He could, however, create something even greater, even grander than the mightiest beast to roam the earth."

"Humans," Youichi breathed.

"Exactly. He wanted to make something that was superior to anything on the planet, but he didn't know what at first. Kyuubi doesn't know how long it took to make us—a day, an hour, a millennium. All he knows is that when we _did _come about was the turning point for the whole planet.

"You see, I told you the soul is a source of energy. Do you remember what I told you the gods were mad up of?"

"Pure energy," Youichi said in disbelief. "Please tell me that you're kidding, Naruto."

"Nope. The human soul is possibly the most complex _thing _in the universe, so full of energy that it's unbelievable. In fact, when the first god made man, he could only make two of them, the drain on his energy was so great, a man and a woman. They were the first, and between the two of them a race was born."

"Wow," muttered Youichi. "That's pretty amazing…but that still doesn't explain the Kyuubi."

"Will you be patient? I'm getting to that! Just hold on a moment, will you? There's a pretty big back-story to all this, so just wait a few minutes and I'll tell you everything, okay?" With a chastised expression on his face, Youichi nodded.

"The man and the woman," Naruto continued huffily, "were, of course, the first human beings, the first creatures in all the cosmos that had a soul, a sense of self, apart from the gods, but they don't really count—all they are really _is _soul, if that's the right thing to call them. It takes a lot of energy to create a soul from scratch, as the first god had to do; so much so that he accidentally depleted the vast majority of his spiritual energy just to make two human souls. Those two souls, however, were the beginning of something unprecedented. Conscious thought, real individualism was born.

"That wasn't the end of it, though. Some of the gods that had created the beasts that inhabit our world grew jealous of man. Several thousand years ago—even he doesn't really know the exact date—some of the lesser gods bestowed powers upon the beasts that they had created. Some of them gave the creatures more power than others, a prime example being the difference between the One-tailed Shukaku no Tanuki and the Nine-tailed Kyuubi no Kitsune. The Shukaku has about five times the chakra supply of a high-ranking Jounin, while the Kyuubi has a nearly infinite reservoir. They were created in the hope of matching the greatest of the beasts…Man himself.

"Things didn't go quite the way they planned, though. The Shukaku, the weakest of the demon lords, actually had to be created with a melding of a human's soul, the soul of an evil sand priest, and the spirit of a tanuki."

"But I thought that animals didn't have souls!" exclaimed Youichi.

"While it is true that animals don't have souls, per se, they do have that spark of life that is common among all living things, the spirit. It is the energy that is flowing throughout each and every one of us, something that we all share that gives us life itself. Even plants, believe it or not, have this life force.

"Each god gave a different amount of energy to their beast. The Shukaku was the weakest due to the relatively small amount of energy given to it, just a tiny fraction of its total power. The Nebi no Nekomata, the Two-tailed Cat, was given more energy, and so on to the Kyuubi, the strongest of the group. Kyuubi's energy drained about half of his total reserves, making him only one step down from the powers of a god."

"Hold on a moment," Youichi said. "I get what you're saying and all, but there's one thing I don't understand."

"What?" asked Naruto.

"You said that creating two humans very nearly drained the first god's power, but creating the Kyuubi, a creature almost infinitely stronger than any human only took about half of his god's energy. That doesn't seem to make any sense to me."

Naruto nodded. "I see what you mean," Naruto said, "and I was confused at first, too. But the first god created humans from scratch, specifically made to hold a soul. We also have the spark inside of us that allow us to say 'I' and make conscious decisions based on reason, not on instinct. When the bijuu were made, however, a random animal was chosen by its creator to house the spiritual energy. The life force was forced into the creature in the hopes that it could handle the strain of receiving so much power, and, indeed they did. Even gods, though, are not immune from the sin of hubris. In their pride, they made one crucial mistake: they focused so much on the power of the beasts and almost none on their intelligence. They created monsters that they couldn't destroy, as they were inextricably linked to their own life energy.

"They destroyed much of the landscape in the parts of the world that they were in, not to mention the lives that were lost to such savage beasts. The first god of our world saw the destruction that was happening to the place that he had created to be paradise for his children, a world that they had already been destroying for hundreds of years with their pollution and waste and he wept openly in front of all the other gods and begged them to take their creatures off of his world. The other gods told him that they couldn't do that, that they had made too big a mistake and couldn't fix it. They set out to figure out how they could fix the damage that they had caused, but to no avail; they had grown too powerful, too unpredictable, too vicious. The malicious gods of the heavens, the true demons, took notice of these perfect tools of destruction and took glory in them, for weapons delivered to them by their foes were the sweetest of all.

"The gods could not help the humans, and could not contain the beasts they had created. Their only hope was to give the humans the power to save themselves. But how to do it was the question. They, they gods, could not stop the beasts, so how could they help the humans do what they could not?

"It was the first god, the one that created the world in the first place, that came up with the idea to give the humans the power to fight the beasts themselves. By this time, although severely depleted, his power had grown enough that he could pass his power onto a human, but just one. He chose a human man, a warrior of the time, to receive the power. The god passed every bit of life he had into the man, and just before he winked out of existence gave him the knowledge of how to stop the great beasts. The first sealing jutsu was created that day to combat the bijuu, and rose the great age of the shinobi."

Naruto looked down at the scroll at his knees. "And speaking of jutsu," he said, "that's enough of a history lesson for today. You wanna do what you came out here to do?" asked Naruto.

Youichi nodded his head. "Sounds like a good idea," he said. "I don't know how long we have before somebody finds us here."

"From the looks of the people back at the village when I left," Naruto said, "probably not long. I wasted too much time talking to you that could have been better spent learning this thing!"

"Don't worry about it, Naruto," said his friend. "You didn't waste any of my time. I really did enjoy hearing about the creation of the bijuu and the world and so on. I _do _like history, remember?" he said with a smile."

"How could I forget?" Naruto said with a laugh. "Without you I would never have passed those subjects!"

The boys shared a laugh together, then turned their combined attention to the Scroll of Forbidden Seals. They spent a few minutes just looking over the instruction present on the thick manuscript when Naruto asked Youichi a question.

"How long do you think it'll take you to master this jutsu?"

A frown came to Youichi's lips. "I'm not sure, really," he answered. "I really suck at Bunshins; it took me three weeks to learn how to make just one properly. On the other hand, the Kawarimi I got down in just a couple days, due to it being a jutsu that uses more chakra. With this one…maybe a few hours? I really don't know. Obviously, I've never tried to do something of this magnitude before, but if the pattern stays true, no more than a few hours. What about you?"

"About the same," Naruto replied. "The damn fox doesn't help me all that much with the actual construction and manipulation of the chakra, and that's the most important part of performing a jutsu. All he does is provide the juice and restricts the amount of chakra going into the jutsu itself. It's up to me to shape the chakra to the jutsu I want it to be; that's why I have to work on the hand signs just like everybody else; I can't count the times that I've messed up a Kawarimi or Bunshin just because a finger was out of place. I'm not some sort of super-shinobi or demi-god or half demon like some people like to imagine. I'm a human with a few more gifts than other people, and just like anybody else I have to work to gain any level of skill. Yes, I may be stronger than you, or anybody else at the academy, but that's only because I put that much extra effort into my training than everybody else. I get up earlier, train longer, and work harder than any one of our classmates, including that punk Uchiha Sasuke. Yes, I was born with the Kyuubi in my belly, but I had to work for years just to manage it at the level I can today. Anybody, even you, can become as strong as you want to, as long as you believe you can. Hell, you could even become the Hokage one day if you wanted to!"

Youichi snorted. "I have about as much chance of becoming Hokage as a fish learning how to fly. It's just a pipe dream, Naruto."

Naruto shook his head sadly at his friend. "Pipe dream or not, it's still possible. I wouldn't want that job, but that's only because there aren't a lot of people in the village that really trust me. I mean, come on, who wants to be led by a demon?

"Let's get onto the jutsu," Naruto said with a quick change of topic. "I don't know how much time we have until we're found, but judging by the ruckus in the village, it may not be enough. Do you think we have enough time?"

"We can only hope so," Youichi replied. "You're right; we can't waste any more time on this. Let's get to it."

_**THREE HOURS LATER…**_

Every one of Naruto's muscles ached like they never had before. He had had no idea whatsoever that learning the jutsu would be so difficult. He had honestly thought at first that he would be able to master it within the hour, but he had been sorely mistaken; unlike some other jutsu, this one wasn't just a matter of performing the correct hand seals and imagining what you wanted to do; you had to actually micromanage every aspect of the division of chakra into the clone. Along with that, the creation of the clone body was essential. To do that, a great amount of focus was needed on Naruto's part to recombine his chakra into a physical body, and after that was done a surplus amount of chakra had to be put into the clone so that it could move around and use his own jutsu.

The hardest part of the jutsu, Naruto quickly realized, was that it had to all be done within and instant, all between the first hand seal and the last, and Naruto just wasn't able to do that kind of thing so quickly. Yes, he was intelligent, but in no way was he a genius. If he was somehow able to shorten the amount of hand seals needed to perform the jutsu it could work, but there were only three seals to begin with, and from what Naruto had read about hand seals and the theory behind them, they were necessary for the manipulation and performance of a technique. Most likely, over the years, the Kage Bunshin had already been shortened to the point where only three seals, the key seals, were required.

Naruto knew that ninjutsu were just like any other thing on the world: always evolving, growing, and changing. When the Kage Bunshin was first made, it probably had at least ten hand seals; to reduce such a complicated technique down to just three hand seals was remarkable. The shinobi that developed the jutsu in the first place must have been some sort of genius.

Naruto knew that there were a few jutsu that only needed one hand seal to perform, but that was only after the body of the shinobi performing the jutsu had done it many times—not unlike a person practicing swinging a sword over and over to build up muscle memory in their arms. With one hand seal, often one that differed from the twelve traditional seals used by most shinobi to perform most other jutsu, the performance of the technique was often automatic; as far as Naruto knew, all that was required to do something along those lines was perform the hand seal and flow chakra through the body, and the job would be done. Now, if only he could figure out the seal that might enable him to do it in one go…

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" **Naruto heard from his friend for the hundredth time that night. Once again, Youichi attempted to do the Kage Bunshin, but when the smoke cleared, just as it had the past hundred times, there was nothing when the wind blew it away…

Or was there? There, at the bottom of the puff of cloud, was a pale, sickly…yet most definitely solid…clone of Youichi, down to the spiky brown hair on its head.

Naruto was amazed. That was the only word for it: amazed. In the space of only about three hours, Youichi had managed to create a shadow clone—even if it didn't seem to be viable as a fighting tool. Despite all that, he had been able to create a solid Kage Bunshin—before Naruto was able to. Naruto was speechless, a somewhat of a rare occurrence.

_How…what…How could he do it before me? _Naruto thought to himself. _I should have been able to do it before him!_

**You're not jealous, are you my little foxling? **Kyuubi said to Naruto inside the boy's head. **Is that the sour scent of envy I feel coming off of you, my boy? **The mocking laughter in his mind broke all concentration that Naruto had. Mentally shutting down the demon and forcing the voice in his head back into its cage, Naruto sat down on the ground with a flop, watching an equally exhausted Youichi dance around a tree in celebration of mastering the first step of the technique.

_Damn,_ Naruto thought. _The fox is right…I am jealous. I should have been able to get this long before he did…so why didn't I? Is there something wrong with me? Or is it something else?_ Naruto went through a quick mental checklist; his chakra control, with the aid of the fox, was fine, and he was processing and controlling the jutsu into the needed shape that the scroll had described, so _what was he doing wrong?_

Naruto didn't have time to answer that question to himself, as a string of events occurred in quick succession, leaving him almost no time to think for himself.

"Youichi!" came the unexpected voice of their teacher, Iruka-sensei. "Here you are! The whole village has been looking for you, boy! The rumors are flying like mad, and the Hokage is furious! What the hell were you thinking sneaking into the Hokage's office and stealing the forbidden Scroll of Sealing?" For the first time, Iruka seemed to notice Naruto. His face fell into a foreboding visage. "Naruto," he said calmly, more even in tone than he had with Youichi. "What are you doing here?"

"Well…" Naruto said, scuffing the ground sheepishly, "I was sitting on my rooftop, just hanging out, really, when I noticed Youichi run off into the woods, I decided to follow him. I was bored, curious, and I heard the commotion from the tower all the way from my house. I didn't know what was going on, but I figured that he might have needed some help. He didn't, really, but it's a good thing I came along when I did. How often do you get the chance to learn jutsu from a forbidden scroll?"

Iruka's face paled. "Y-you actually _read _from the scroll?" he stammered. "What did you read, Naruto? _How far into it did you go?!"_

Naruto was taken aback at Iruka's tone of voice. Yes, he had seen the man angry before, but never as mad as he was at that point. It seemed like he was panicking at the very thought of Naruto reading from the scroll…and couldn't care less what Youichi was doing. Indeed, Youichi had backed up away from the pair toward the scroll and began to discretely roll it up and bind it together so that it wouldn't flap in the wind. As he was knotting the twine that held the scroll's end in place, something came to mind—how had the Hokage learned of the theft?

"I-we just went as far as the Kage Bunshin, Iruka-sensei," Naruto said, hands held in front of him in an attempt to placate his teacher. "Youichi can do it already, but I still have some time to go before I master it completely. We didn't go any further, I swear, sensei."

Iruka's head snapped at his other pupil in astonishment. "He can do the Kage Bunshin, and you can't?" he said, amazed. "How much of a head start did he have on you before you caught up to him?"

"Um…" Naruto murmured, somewhat embarrassed. "I don't know, really…about five minutes, I would guess. Does that sound about right, Youichi-kun?"

Youichi was trying as hard as he could to hold in the laughter that threatened to burst out of his mouth at any point. "More like ten, really," he said with a grin on his face.

Iruka, too, found the situation funny, but only for a moment. One look at the scroll in Youichi's arms brought any mirth he had away as quickly as it had come, replaced immediately by a hard edge that neither of them had ever seen. "Youichi," he said, as if the past moment had never happened, "what the hell is going on? You broke into the tower and stole one of the most restricted scrolls in the village, you fool! I have never seen the man so mad in my life, and quite honestly I'm afraid that when he catches up with you…well, you know the law of our village. No matter the situation, thieves are dealt with harshly in Konoha. If you were a shinobi, you would receive the same treatment as any civilian." Iruka truly seemed pained at having to say this to his student. The grief in his eyes was obvious, but he knew his duty as a ninja of the Leaf; he had to take Youichi straight to the Hokage.

"But—but I mastered the Kage Bunshin!" yelled Youichi. "You have to let me be a shinobi! That's the rule!"

Iruka seemed perplexed. "The rule? What are you talking about? There's no such rule as that."

Youichi looked crestfallen. "Yes there is! Iruka-sensei, I _know _there is, 'cause Mizuki-sensei told—" His hands flew to his mouth as soon as he uttered the name of his teacher. Iruka paled, his naturally-tanned skin taking on an unhealthy tone.

"Mizuki? What are you saying?"

Youichi looked to the side, unable to look his sensei in the eyes. "Earlier today, after most of the other students left the academy," he mumbled, "Mizuki-sensei came up to me and told me about a scroll the Hokage had that might be able to help me graduate with all of the others. He told me where they were kept, and even how to get into that part of the tower." He looked defiantly into Iruka's eyes. "He said that if I did this, you would _have _to let me be a shinobi."

"But that's impossible," Iruka said weakly. "Mizuki was the one that told Hokage-sama to look in the scrolls in the first place…" A sudden look of realization flashed across Iruka's face. "Oh, kami," he whispered as he tore the scroll out of Youichi's arms and crouched down so that his face was level with Naruto's and Youichi's.

"Boys, a terrible mistake has been made," he said quietly but sharply. "This was all Mizuki's doing. He _tricked _you, Youichi, into stealing the scroll, all so that he could take it for himself!"

"But why would he do that?" Naruto asked, shocked at what Iruka had to say.

"This scroll," Iruka said, "contains unimaginable power for those who can master its secrets. It is called the Scroll of Sealing for a reason, Naruto. The knowledge contained in this scroll helped the Yondaime seal the Kyuubi inside of you all those years ago, and could potentially unseal it from you as well." Iruka pulled a line of steel cord out of his bum pouch and tied it around Naruto's back, from right shoulder to left hip. "Take this scroll and get to the village as quickly as possible, as fast as you can." Iruka grabbed Naruto's face and held it to his own, the intensity of the situation very clear to the both of them. "If he gets the scroll, who knows what he will do with it. It is very possible that he could draw the Kyuubi out of you and use it for his own ends…but I somehow doubt that that is his goal." Iruka's brow knit together, forming furrows between his eyes. "Return this to the Hokage, Naruto. It's worth more that either of your lives, do you understand me?" He shifted his gaze to Youichi's cyan eyes.

Youichi nodded the affirmative. His hands may have been shaking, but his resolve was as firm as stone. "I understand, Iruka-sensei," he said solemnly.

"I may not be authorized to do this, but I'm assigning this as an A-class mission," Iruka said. A light shone in Youichi's eyes as Iruka said this. "Bring this to the Hokage, and don't let anyone or anything stop you." He once again locked eyes with Youichi. "Youichi, if this goes as planned, I'll do my best to make you a shinobi. Whether or not Mizuki manipulated you, you proved that you could be a shinobi by mastering the Kage Bunshin in just a few hours. Adapting quickly and learning swiftly are two of the most important qualities of a shinobi. Can I count on you two to make it to the Hokage?"

Naruto and Youichi shared a brief glance and nodded together. They knew the importance of keeping the scroll safe from Mizuki, and both knew that if Mizuki caught up to them they would probably both die…although privately, Naruto knew that he had a much greater chance of living through a battle with Mizuki than Youichi would. He resolved himself to protect his friend at all cost, even if it cost him his own life. Swallowing a lump down his throat he nodded at his sensei, and promised himself that if he came out of this alive, he would treat him and Youichi to a big bowl of ramen at the Ichiraku.

"But what about you, sensei?" Youichi asked. "What are you going to do while we're running away?"

Iruka smiled a small, sad smile at them. "I'm going to be right with you two all the way. But if we do run into Mizuki, I want the two of you to promise me you'll let me handle him, okay? Naruto, I know you're stronger than you let on, but I don't know if you can handle Mizuki by yourself, and I don't want to take the chance."

"But—"

"No buts, Naruto!" exclaimed Iruka. "If something happens, you run, no matter what! Promise me, you two!"

Both boys nodded their head in a silent, if reluctant, vow to obey their sensei. "Good," Iruka said. "Now let's get going before Mizuki finds us."

Naruto heard the kunai and shuriken fly through the air before he saw them, the glint of moonlight reflecting off of the fatal metal as they all impacted the chest of their sensei and pinned him to the flimsy wall of the shack. Blood drops flew from his writhing form as he slammed violently against the aged wood, hitting the boys sporadically in the face and chest.

"SENSEI!!" the boys shouted simultaneously, rushing to his side. Iruka groaned in pain; after all, he had just been pummeled with a dozen sharp objects.

"Too late," a sinister voice called out from the darkness of the forest. "I've found you, you demon bastard." The voice sounded familiar to Naruto, but at the same time utterly alien. "You will die tonight, to pay for the sins you have committed these past twelve years…not to mention for what you did all those years ago to the village." With that, Naruto's teacher, his sensei, stepped out from behind the tree that had concealed him.

"M-Mizuki-s-sensei?" stuttered Youichi.

Mizuki laughed a dark, sinister chuckle. The sensei that had been teaching them at the academy for as long as they could remember didn't seem to be resident in his face. The man that they had known for so long…he didn't even seem to exist anymore. Instead, in his place, was something that neither of them had ever seen before, a bastard offspring of all of the greater sins—greed, wrath, lust, all rolled into one human-shaped package. The lines of his face seemed sharper, more sinister in the pale moonlight than they had ever been before. This was a face that had never seen the light of day…until he brought it out to face the children he wanted to kill.

Mizuki laughed at the trembling Youichi and the spasming Iruka. "You always were a fool, Iruka," he said to the pinned man. "You always tried to protect the boy, sticking your nose in where it didn't belong. If it weren't for you, he would have been dead a long time ago." An ominous smile crossed his lips. "I'll take care of _that _little problem tonight…him, you, and the brat." A cold hand crept up Youichi's spine as Mizuki's gaze crossed over him.

"NO WAY!!" shouted Naruto. "Like _hell _I'll let you hurt Iruka-sensei you bastard!" Naruto grabbed Youichi on the shoulder, startling the boy into awareness. "Can you fight?" he asked the boy.

"I-I think so," Youichi replied as he slipped a hand into his kunai holster and looped a finger around the ring.

"You are not to fight, Naruto!" Iruka shouted as he pulled a kunai off of his vest, unpinning him from the wall. A trail of blood slid down the wood as he slumped to the ground. "I already told you, Mizuki wants nothing more than that scroll, and he'll kill you to get to it! Run away and get help while I hold him off." With a grunt and a groan, he propped himself back up to his feet and grabbed a kunai in each hand, both of which were stained already with his own blood.

"But sensei—"

"No 'buts', Naruto!" Iruka exclaimed. "That is a direct order from a superior shinobi. Are you going to challenge me?" A flinty look came to his eyes, an expression that he had never seen before. He knew that to disobey a superior shinobi in a battle situation was treason, and no matter how this fight came out, he was sure that if they both survived Naruto just might be up for court-martial in front of the Konoha council.

Swallowing a lump that had formed in his throat and silently cursing his sensei, Naruto shook his head. "Okay," he said, his voice steady. "We'll retreat, for now, and be back with reinforcements. Just don't die!" He grabbed Youichi's shoulder and pulled him, protesting, from their teacher. "Come on," he said. "We gotta get help."

Youichi looked between Naruto, Iruka, and Mizuki. Inside, he was afraid out of his mind, but he knew what he had to do. "All right," he said, resigned. "Let's go." He jumped onto the nearest tree branch that could support his weight, Naruto right behind him.

"I DON'T THINK SO!!" Mizuki shouted just as Naruto jumped up onto the branch. Mizuki grabbed one of the giant shuriken off of his back and, with a mighty heave, tossed the metal monster directly at Naruto seconds before his feet connected with the branch. He was a sitting duck with no way to get out of the way of the shuriken—

The shuriken never connected; Youichi managed to pull Naruto out of the way of the behemoth before it killed the boy. It went on for about twenty yards before it struck fast into a tree, nearly, but not quite, slicing halfway into it. "Thanks," Naruto said to Youichi, well-aware of just how close he had just come to dying at that moment. "Now let's get out of here!"

As the boys sprung off into the night toward their home, the clash of metal rang out from behind them, again and again, and then a scream pierced the night. Whether it was Iruka or Mizuki, neither of them knew…they were afraid to know.

They had been running for about ten minutes when they sensed someone running behind them, catching up to them quickly. Naruto couldn't tell who it was, as Iruka and Mizuki had about the same amount of chakra overall, and he was too far away for Naruto to get a good read on his individual chakra signature. Naruto, being a half a second behind Youichi during the retreat, caught up to Youichi to talk to him.

"Somebody's coming up behind us, and gaining fast," Naruto said. "I don't know who it is. Do you want to go on ahead, or wait and see who it is?"

Youichi bit his lip so hard, Naruto was sure it was going to bleed. "We should find a place to hide," Youichi said, "and see who it is before we do anything. If it's Iruka, he'll be trying to catch up to us."

"And what if it's Mizuki?" Naruto asked Youichi. "We were told to run away and get help, right?"

Youichi sighed. "If it's Mizuki, that means that Iruka-sensei is already dead," Youichi said. "If it _is _Mizuki, we can fight back, maybe even beat him."

"Do you actually think we can beat him?" Naruto asked his friend.

"Me? I don't stand a chance in hell!" Youichi said with something like half a laugh. "But I know you're strong, Naruto, even stronger than you let on at the academy. In reality, if you tried, you could have probably taken Mizuki back there. Why didn't you?"

Naruto looked away from his friend as he concentrated on jumping from branch to branch. "Because I have to follow his orders," he said. "He is my commanding officer, and his word is law. Because if I happened to lose, he would have possession of the scroll, and that's the one thing that could never happen. The mission is more important than any one person, especially in a situation like this. Completion of the mission is more important than the individual."

Youichi sighed. "That sounds like the shinobi code, almost to the letter. Do you honestly believe that, Naruto?"

"Weelll…no," Naruto said after a short pause. "Not all the time. But it's a good set of guidelines to live by." After a moment of silence, Naruto saw a cluster of roots at the base of an enormous old tree that provided plenty of cover to hide in. "Down there," Naruto indicated to Youichi, who instantly understood and nodded. They dropped from the branches as quickly as was safe and took cover so that whoever was behind them, when he caught up to the boys, they would be able to see him without being able to be seen. Of course, that coverage would only be effective as long as he was on the other side of the root buildup as the boys; from the other side, there would be no hiding at all.

After a few minutes, a solitary figure came into view. In the darkness, neither boy could make out the face of the man. He stopped on a branch about thirty feet into the air, roughly fifty yards distant from the boys. He crouched down to one knee and turned his head, as if the boys would be easily spotted. He seemed to sense that they had stopped moving, just as they had sensed him following them. He said not a word, but leapt on to another branch, and after another moment, another. Each time he paused for a moment to kneel down and place a palm against the bough he rested on, as if to feel out where the boys were.

Naruto and Youichi barely breathed. If it was Iruka, they would recognize his voice as soon as he said anything, but if it was Mizuki, drawing his attention would be disastrous in the extreme. They kept their bodies rock-still, not even letting their chests fill up completely, drawing short, shallow breaths.

The figure in the dark went on through the trees, slowly and methodically, all the while staying in the shadows. Naruto prayed a silent prayer that the moonlight didn't reveal their position, just in case it was the traitor. In his mind, he went over the possibilities of what the final outcome would be if it was Mizuki after all. If they fought, who would win? Naruto knew that his taijutsu was probably on par with Mizuki's, at least if he enhanced it with his chakra to increase the power of his punches and kicks. He didn't know how fast Mizuki was, so he couldn't really compare that attribute, and his ninjutsu remained a mystery, beyond the basic academy jutsu.

_I just may be forced to use "that" jutsu,_ Naruto thought with a shiver. _I hope to whatever god is up there right now that it doesn't come that. I'm not sure I'm ready for it yet._ His musings were cut short as the figure hopped down from the tree—just a few feet on the other side of the cluster of roots that the boys had made their camp. In the dim light, Naruto held a finger to his lips, indicating to Youichi that no matter what not to make a sound. Youichi nodded a fraction of an inch, breathing almost nothing at all.

"Boys?" a soft voice called out quietly in the night. "Are you around here somewhere?"

_Iruka-sensei! _Naruto shouted in his mind to himself. It was his voice; it had to be him! Before Naruto could get up, however, Youichi grabbed his arm to prevent him from arising. Puzzled, Naruto quizzed him with his eyes. Youichi just held up one finger, silently asking Naruto to trust him. Naruto nodded after a moment, not sure what Youichi was doing, but resolved to go along with whatever he was planning.

"I'm here, Iruka-sensei," Youichi said. "It's just me, though. Naruto left me to go on ahead, leaving me to distract Mizuki and lead him away from him just in case he beat you and caught up. Before we split up, however, he accidentally twisted his ankle on a broken branch. I caught up to him after I heard him fall, and he made me take the scroll. Just before you caught up to us, I heard him fall again to the ground about three hundred yards away, and that was when I first heard you approach. I hid myself as best I could, but I guess since you found me, it wasn't good enough. Did you beat Mizuki? Are we safe?"

Iruka chuckled softly in the dark. "Yeah, that traitor's dead," he said. "Killed him with his own giant-ass shuriken, too. Less than he deserved for what he tried to pull on you boys, that's what I think."

Youichi seemed to sigh in relief, but Naruto noticed him flipping the lapel of his shuriken and kunai holster open and grabbing a couple of the throwing stars in his hand. Youichi tapped him on the thigh, waving the stars a few centimeters left and right, indicating that Naruto was to do the same. Slowly coming to the same conclusion that Youichi had, Naruto nodded in understanding and took out not the shuriken, but two kunai from his leg holster. If he was planning what he thought he was planning, kunai would work better for what Youichi wanted to do. And if they were both right, and Iruka confirmed their suspicions…they would need all the advantages they could get.

"Are you going to go get Naruto-kun?" Youichi asked Iruka. He should be just a couple hundred yards to our west, but I'm not quite sure. I would have gone after him and tried to help him, but time was short, and I honestly thought…"

"Thought what?" Iruka asked, more sharply than he usually would have.

Youichi took a deep breath, as if confessing something grievous to his sensei. "I thought that he had beaten you. You took a beating from him from your blind side before we ran away, and I wasn't sure if you could have beaten him, much less gotten away." He let a smile creep into his voice. "I've never been more happy to be proven wrong in my life."

"Everything's fine now," Iruka said hastily. "Now give me the scroll, and we can go look for Naruto—together."

Naruto and Youichi locked eyes with each other. Their suspicions had been confirmed; almost psychically, they knew what each other was going to do an instant before they did it. Youichi sprang out from behind the root and to Iruka's left, launching both shuriken at his neck, the most vulnerable part of his body. He was just barely able to dodge the brunt of the attack, with just a tip from one shuriken nicking the very side of his neck. A split second after that volley, Naruto lobbed the two kunai in his hand at a spot a foot and a half in front of Youichi, judging for distance, speed, and wind. The kunai were right on target, hitting nothing but air just before Youichi grabbed them out of their flight path, twisted them around one-handed, and threw the brace of kunai at Iruka's exposed armpit.

Iruka tried to dodge, but was unsuccessful. He was able to maneuver his shoulder just enough to avoid one, but stopping the second proved to be impossible. It sunk deep into his flesh, momentum carrying it at an angle through the flesh and into the inside wall of the shoulder blade. He screamed in agony—

And the man passing himself off as Iruka poofed out of existence, to be replaced by the bleeding form of Mizuki. "WHAT THE FUCK, YOU LITTLE SHITS!!!" screamed an enraged Mizuki.

Naruto and Youichi jumped back so that about twenty feet separated them from Mizuki. "You're not a very good shinobi, are you, Mizuki-_sensei_?" mocked Naruto. "Getting beaten by a couple of rookie shinobi, just out of the academy, no less. No wonder they kept you teaching a bunch of kids; they really couldn't let you carry on more complex missions, I suppose."

"You slipped up," Youichi put in. "First, your speech pattern is different from his." He held up one finger. "Two, you bad-mouthed yourself when you tried to convince us that you were Iruka-sensei, something that he would never have done. And three, if he really had killed you, Iruka-sensei would _never _have put obtaining the scroll before seeing to Naruto-kun's safety. He would have gone over there immediately to try to help him." Fingers two and three went up in sequential order.

"And fourth," continued Naruto, "he would have yelled our heads off for not running away from the battle like he told us to. To disobey a direct order is a direct violation of our law." He took the headband out of his pocket that he had been carrying the whole time without even realizing it. "Well, what do you know, Mizuki-sensei?" he asked, adding the honorific in a sarcastic tone. "I'm on a mission, and I forgot to put my Hitai-ate on. How forgetful of me." With a scathing grin on his lips, he quickly tied the bandana around his forehead, pushing his longer-than-usual hair up and out. Usually, it was shorter and spikier, but lately he had decided to let it grow out a little bit. (A/N think the Yondaime, just a little bit longer) It had the unforeseen effect of pushing his bangs out of his eyes, as he had not yet even tried it on. After a moment, once he had securely knotted the cloth behind his head, he turned his attention back to Mizuki—who, he had noticed, had ripped the kunai from his armpit and was now dripping blood on the forest floor. Naruto was no expert on blood loss, but with the makeshift staunch Mizuki was using—little more than a handkerchief from his bum pouch—Naruto estimated that he had about ten minutes before he passed out from blood loss.

"Let's go," Naruto said to Youichi, jumping into the tree behind him. "In his condition, it would be easy to outrun him. We just have to keep ahead of him for a few minutes, then we're home free." Youichi nodded and followed him up into the leaves.

They had just made their first leap when Mizuki shouted out, "Oh no you don't, you LITTLE BASTARDS!!!" Mizuki had pulled the one remaining giant shuriken off of his back, reared back, and hurled the metal monstrosity at the spot where Naruto was sure to land in the tree.

"NARUTO, LOOK OUT!" Youichi yelled. He landed a split second before Naruto did, but was too far away to pull him away as he did before.

For Youichi, his life flashed before his eyes. He had always heard that when you're about to die, that kind of thing happens to you. You see everything you've ever done, everything you wanted to do, but never did. He had never given much credence to the tales that in the instant before you die, pure bliss is bestowed upon you like a gift from some higher being—something that, before today, he had never really believed in. Time seemed to slow down by factors of ten, a hundred, a thousand. He saw the minute ripple of wind in the leaves of the trees, and the flutter of Naruto's eyelashes as he blinked, oh ever so slowly as Youichi tackled Naruto and shoved him out of the way, pushing him out of the space that the shuriken was going to decimate him. For that instant before he died, without a speech, without a goodbye, without an explanation, Youichi attained an inner peace never felt by him before. A perfect moment of clarity opened up to him, revealing emotions and knowledge and powers never before known to him before, there if only he could just…reach…

Seconds after his spine, his heart, and half his chest was sliced in half, he died a happy man, content with the knowledge that despite not having a headband like his friend, he had died a shinobi of the Leaf, just as his parents did, and nothing could have made him any happier.

A/N: Yes, I know that a lot of you hate me right now, and quite frankly I don't blame you. What I did to Youichi was cruel, spiteful, and pointless. Some of you may be asking me why I let him learn the Kage Bunshin like that, master it before our favorite blonde, and not let him utilize it in the ass-kicking of Mizuki?

The answer: because that's just how life is sometimes. Just because you have the ability to do something, doesn't mean you'll get the chance to do it. A woman carries a can of pepper spray in her purse to protect her, right? But what happens if an assailant snatches her purse before he rapes her? _The pepper spray doesn't do jack shit._ It's as simple as that. Just in case some of you haven't realized it yet, we live in a little thing called reality. In this unmagical world, we don't always get a fair chance to have our say, or speak our case. In our world, as in Naruto's, people can die at any time at the drop of a hat. Nawaki wanted to be Hokage, and he died. For all we know, he would have been a good Hokage. Dan wanted to be Hokage, and he could have been great, but we'll never know, will we? They're both dead, whether by some curse or by random chance, it doesn't matter: they both died violent, bloody deaths, well before their dreams could be realized. People, that is _life._ It's cruel realities are felt everywhere, by everyone. It spared nobody at all, an equal-opportunity sadist. Anyone living in lala-land thinking that everybody should get a fair shot should go see a shrink for delusions. Yes, my cup is half-empty, thank you for asking.

Why did Youichi have to die, some of you may ask? Simple: Naruto had to _live._ In the manga, it was a choice for Iruka to either (a) save Naruto and get stabbed in the back, or (b) let him die. We all know what happened; Naruto's sensei, friend, and father-figure nearly got himself killed to save him, and that drove him to create a thousand clones. What do you think the death of that man (spoiler alert, he IS dead, sorry about that) and his friend, one very like himself, will do to the boy? What will he be driven to now? What will his motivation be? What is his nindo?

…These are all questions that will be answered in the next chapter. Even I, at this point, don't know what exactly is going to happen. The words flow from not my head, but from my fingers. They do the talking, I just eat the food that fuels the motion of the muscle and bone. Blame them, not me.

In the meantime, got another question for you guys: Kakashi will be Naruto's Jounin-sensei, but he won't be the only one. He will receive training from several other Jounin—normal and Tokubetsu, even some ANBU, maybe. Some of them, like Hayate Gekko and Ibiki Morino are a lock. A few of them, however, I'm not so sure about. Of the following five shinobi, exactly who should be one of Naruto's new sensei?

**Mitarashi Anko**

**Shiranui Genma**

**Ebisu**

**Sarutobi Asuma**

**Inuzuka Tsume**

There are definitely a few in there that I'm leaning toward…but I'm not telling which ones, not yet. Make your voices heard. Let me know what you want. This story wouldn't be anything without people to read it, so it's up to you guys to help me along with this. If it sucks somewhere, or if I make a mistake (beyond grammatical, please no nitpicking) call me on it.

Oh, one more thing: there will be a lot of jutsu that I invent for this fic, and I mean A LOT. Perhaps 25 of all jutsu showcased here will be original, including variations of existing jutsu, and I need someone to help me out with effectively translating my jutsu to Japanese. Anyone with past experience will be most greatly appreciated.

Tschuus mein volken!


	4. Rising Blood

Hello everybody! I'm glad to see that you're all back and ready for some more Naruto action. Boy, do I have a show for you today. I mean it, there's a lot I have to get into this thing. I promised myself that I wouldn't write short chapters for this thing, just to get the chapter number up there, and guess what? I define short as less than six thousand words. And guess how many words are in the story chapter below? 6,051. Yep, I hit the mark, almost to the T.

Now, there's a lot going on in this chappie—action, blood, even a healthy dose of sex. I told you guys there might be some lemony goodness in there, and now I deliver unto you the bounty of a two a.m. writing. Hope you enjoy it; I'm really not entirely sure if I was sober when I wrote a lot of this, so if it sounds weird it's probably my fault.

Hope you enjoy this one; it's a lot shorter than I had planned, but it's all for the best. See bottom A/N for more.

* * *

Blood dripped through Naruto's fingers to the forest floor below. Somehow, even though he had been ripped nearly in half, both Youichi and Naruto managed to stay on the branch that they had aimed for. Blood soaked Naruto's clothes, from the hem of his shirt on down to the soles of his sandaru. Horror crept into his eyes as the viscera fell from Youichi's body onto his lap, strings of organs and bodily fluids slipping out of his skin like the inner flesh popping from an overripe fruit.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Naruto registered the insane laughter coming from his former sensei, but the boy really wasn't in the state of mind to pay attention to the murder—for that was what he now was, a cold-blooded murderer. In the line of duty, it was often necessary for a shinobi to kill a target, deaths authorized by the laws of the village the shinobi hailed from. But this…this was inexcusable. It was evil. It was…wrong.

"Y- Youichi," Naruto's voice cracked as his hands became too slippery with blood to hold his friend in place any longer. Youichi slid from his tenuous grasp to the ground below, a dull thud closely following his impact with the dirt. He lay broken, a defeated mass of tissue and bone some twenty feet below Naruto. "Youichi…" Naruto repeated, whispered to himself. A drop hit him in the face. _Rain? No, it can't be. _Naruto looked up, but the skies were clear. A drop hit him again, but this time on the underside of his chin.

His blood-soaked hands were shaking violently, so rough and ragged that droplets of deepest red were flying off into every direction. _What is this? _He asked himself. _Am I…afraid?_

Naruto felt time slow down, saw the world grow dark. He recognized the sensations; the Kyuubi inside of him was pulling Naruto inside of his own mind. Naruto knew that when inside the mindscape, an hour spent with the fox could equal just a second on the outside world…but he was still uncomfortable leaving himself open to just anybody like that.

Although pitch-black, Naruto could sense the wind rushing though his ears as he delved into the sewer the Kyuubi called home, at least for now. He knew that the wind was an illusion, a rationalization his subconscious created to help him sense where he was in correlation to the Kyuubi, but he nevertheless let himself enjoy the soft caress of the air streaming past his body.

After a moment, though, the wind slowed down to nothing as he landed softly in the inch-deep water of the cavern of the Kyuubi. Before, when he hadn't been able to communicate directly with the demon fox but was still aware of the existence, he had always been transported directly to the presence of the demon lord. But for some reason, the more intimate he got with the beast, the longer it took for him to get there. It was a puzzle that intrigued Naruto to no end, even though he tried to visit him as little as possible, if at all.

The hall was lined with pillars adorned with intricate engravings of various things, from people to animals to messages in ancient languages. As the Kyuubi gained more influence over Naruto—including affecting his weight and height, which were both a little above-average for his age—the fox gained a bit more control over the inner design of his prison. For the most part they were cosmetic changes, such as the designs on the pillars, but a few practicalities were thrown in as well. The symbolic gate that had been in place beforehand was now gone; instead, a raised podium grew about five or six feet up from the water level. The steps leading up to the crest were lined with a red velvet carpet edged with golden tassels, leading to a throne-like chair in which a being of unimaginable power sat.

When in the mindscape, the Kyuubi never took the same form twice in a row. As a creature of trickery and illusions, the Kyuubi no Kitsune could take any form imaginable, and some that confounded the imagination. At times he preferred to appear as a hundred-story beast of destruction, as he had when attacking Konoha. Other times, he showed himself as a beast of a man, seven feet tall if an inch, covered in coarse red hair that grew equally in all places, even around the eyes. This time, however, he split the difference; he kept his fox form, but scaled it down to human size. His legs bent like a human's, allowing him to walk in a bipedal motion but with the bone structure more like that of the animal that he was created from. His front paws were formed like hands, complete with opposable thumbs, but tipped with wicked-looking razor-sharp claws. Real fur, not a coarse hair, layered over his body, all the way from his head to his toes. This form wasn't completely new, but there was something in the scenario that took him completely by surprise.

The Kyuubi was completely nude, all nine feet of his anthropomorphic body on display. He wasn't alone this time, either; the podium was literally covered with beautiful, voluptuous women as naked as the demon they serviced. At least ten women adorned the area around the Kyuubi, gently, seductively stroking his arms, his body, and his member. The fox was in an extremely high state of arousal, proven by the three women fondling and orally servicing his larger-than-life erection. At the moment, he was busy sucking on the nipple of a woman that looked no more than sixteen or seventeen and weighed not an ounce more than a fourth his total body weight.

"Is this a bad time?" Naruto asked as he walked up to the podium, stopping just at the base. He had never seen the Kyuubi in a situation like this before; hell, he didn't even know it was _possible _for anyone else to be in his mindscape before this.

"_**Ah,"**_ the Kyuubi sighed, whether in response to Naruto or in sudden pleasure do to the ministrations of a dark-haired beauty. She flicked one of his testicles with her tongue rapidly, over and over, creating a blur that Naruto's naked eye couldn't track. The woman then positioned herself in front of her master getting down on her knee and bending over to better play with the velvety erection, giving Naruto an unobstructed view of her womanly pride. Gently shooing the other women away from the shaft of the beast, she took the head of his dick into her mouth and began sucking on it in earnest. She pushed the tip of his member down her throat one inch at a time, then another, then another, her mouth impossibly compensating for the length and girth of the throbbing erection. It got to the point where she could no longer fit any more of his manhood down her gullet, her lips only able to caress down to just past the halfway mark of the vein-lined shaft.

Throughout the activities, Kyuubi seemed to remain oblivious to Naruto's presence, although the boy knew that that was a sham; although Naruto _could _come visit the fox voluntarily, it was not the case this time. He had pulled Naruto on purpose to his pit and put on this for…Naruto didn't know why, exactly. He knew that the Kyuubi was famous for having a raging libido, resulting in having the largest of the Great Demon Clans, but he had never gone to these lengths to fuck with Naruto's mind. Why had the beast drawn Naruto down only to put on a sexual play for the boy?

With a jerk of his hips, Kyuubi grabbed the woman's head and pressed it more intimately at his groin and released his seed into her mouth. It must have been too much for her, as the fluid dripped from her mouth to fall into little pools of semen and saliva on Kyuubi's lap, the throne, and the carpeted dais on which he sat. The woman withdrew from Kyuubi's presence to go lay down on a pile of pillows and cushions behind him. Immediately, she was beset by the rest of the harem, all of whom frantically lapped up the remaining semen on her body and in her mouth. Lips and tongues caressed her belly, her breasts, even her maidenhood where several drops of Kyuubi's seed had fallen.

Ignoring the orgy commencing behind him, Kyuubi finally turned his attention to his prison, and his prisoner. He chuckled at the expression on Naruto's face as he stroked his softening member. _**"So,"**_ he said, something between contempt and humor in his voice, _**"how did you enjoy the show?"**_

Trying not to seem rattled, although he was, Naruto took on an aloof attitude. "I've seen better," he said to the fox. The Kyuubi seemed to find this amusing; he threw his head back and let out something resembling a cross between a deep belly laugh and a bestial howl. The sound of it chilled Naruto to the bone, even though he knew that he really didn't have bones in this realm.

Once his cry subsided, Kyuubi focused his attention fully on Naruto. Naruto wasn't afraid of Kyuubi…not exactly…but he had a healthy respect for the power of the demon. He knew that although he was just an illusion in this world, illusions still had a sort of power. If he got hurt in this place, it just may affect him on the outside. No matter how much the fox pissed him off, he had to realize that Kyuubi held all the cards…at least, he did for now.

"What do you want?" Naruto asked his prisoner. "Just in case you hadn't noticed, I'm in kind of a lot on trouble on the outside right now. Any minute now Mizuki is going to kill me if I don't do something soon. So if you don't mind telling me what's going on, I think I'll just be going on."

Kyuubi sipped from a goblet that just appeared in his hand. It was a crystal-clear cup full of a dark red substance that looked suspiciously like blood. Licking his lips, he set it down on a small table that just as magically appeared at his side. _**"I brought you here,"**_ he rumbled, _**"because if I hadn't, you would have been killed regardless of what you did."**_ He chuckled, as if telling a joke only he understood. _**"Imagine, trash like that killing the great Demon Lord."**_

Naruto smirked at the beast. "What the hell are you talking about?" he scoffed. "There was no way Mizuki could have beaten me. He had already ditched his over-compensating shuriken, and I _know _I'm stronger than he is."

Kyuubi sighed. _**"Be that as it may, kit,"**_ he said, _**"you had just seen your friend die in your arms. You were going into shock. Had you not been pulled into here, the bastard would have killed you in seconds. Shock is physiological, a physical condition brought on by extreme mental stress. You couldn't have come out of it even if you wanted to. You were vulnerable. You are weak."**_

"Like HELL I'm weak, you bastard!" Naruto screamed at Kyuubi. "If you wouldn't have dragged me here, I would have—"

"_**You would have what? Died? How would that have been helpful to either of us? If you don't mind, I would like to be alive for just a little bit longer. You got a problem with that?"**_ Kyuubi's contempt rolled off of him in waves, coursing through the room and bouncing off the walls like echoes. Bastard though he was, Naruto knew that he was right; evil though he was, Naruto saw the wisdom in his words. _**"There is something that I could do to help you, though,"**_ said the fox.

Immediately, Naruto became suspicious. Even though his safety depended on Naruto being alive, Naruto knew that for whatever the Kyuubi did there would be a price. "What are you proposing?" Naruto asked.

"_**To come out of a state of shock," **_Kyuubi said, _**"one of two things must be done—neither of which are particularly safe. First, physical pain can be administered to a shock victim, overriding the shock. This is not a good idea because the degree of pain necessary and the administration is difficult to regulate. Second, a person could be 'snapped out of it', as you humans put it, by introducing an even bigger shock to the brain. This is the more dangerous of the two—at least for you."**_

"What do you mean by _that_?" asked Naruto.

The fox looked straight at Naruto, a grin on his face. _**"Let's put it this way, boy,"**_ he said. _**"Your mind is fairly strong for a human, but your body is stronger by far. In other words…pain would be a better remedy for you than mental stimulus."**_

"Are you saying I don't have a strong mind?" asked Naruto.

"_**No, no…not exactly, anyway. All I am saying is that you're in such a state of shock right now, putting your brain in even more stress would do you more harm than good. The amount of extra mental strain your mind can take right now and you be sane at the end of it is not much, if any at all."**_ The fox licked his lips, a mannerism Naruto didn't like very much at the moment. _**"There is one other option, however."**_

Naruto was beginning to feel a state of dread. "What are you talking about?" he asked guardedly. "What option?"

Kyuubi chuckled. _**"Right now, you can't make your own body move…but I could."**_

Naruto felt a cold chill in the pit of his stomach. "Oh, no you don't," Naruto said. "That's not going to happen. I remember what happened the last time you took control over my body, and I still have nightmares over it. I like my meat cooked, remember? I was sick for a week after that, and Shikamaru's dad was raising up too much fuss over that deer for comfort."

The Demon Lord laughed out loud once again. _**"But it had been so long since I had had the pleasure of the hunt!"**_ he crowed. _**"And it was just for an hour or so, anyway. But no, that will not happen this time."**_ He immediately grew somber. _**"Would it help if I gave you my word that I would not stay in control any longer than necessary?"**_

Naruto grew wary. He knew that the fox could lie, but also knew that he took his oath seriously. If he made a vow to Naruto, he would keep it, to the end. "Do you swear that you will not remain in control of my body any longer than it takes to defeat Mizuki and make it to safety? And do you swear that you will not do anything that I would not let you do under any circumstances?"

Kyuubi's left eyelid twitched. Apparently, Naruto had closed a loophole that he had been looking to exploit. _**"I swear it so,"**_ he said, and in that instant a ripple-like shockwave spread out from the demon; a demonic pact had been made.

"_**It is time,"**_ Kyuubi said. He arose from the throne, all nine feet of him standing tall and graceful. His padded feet carried him down the stairs to the boy and beyond, nine tails stretched out behind him. He walked further on down the hall to where Naruto had made his entrance, turned so that he was facing Naruto, and held his arms to the side. _**"Come,"**_ he said to Naruto. _**"I will be in command of the body, but you may join me and view through your own eyes. I would not deny you the pleasure of watching what I am to do to Mizuki…and you may learn something in the process."**_

"Like what?" asked Naruto as he stood behind the fox.

Kyuubi's eyes held a glint of mischief. _**"Oh, you'll see,"**_ he said. And with that, they left the sewer behind, descending from Naruto's belly to his mind.

* * *

At first, it seemed like all Naruto could see was a field of black. Black background, black foreground, black _everything._ For a moment, Naruto was afraid that he had been tricked by the Kyuubi somehow, somehow banished to a dark corner of his mind so that the damned fox could have his way with his body. Panic began to set in; if he had lungs to breath with at the moment, he would have begun to hyperventilate. After what seemed like an eternity, though, the black all before him began to lighten, turning from an ebon setting to a deepest red, gradually lightening so that individual shapes could be made out. At first, it was just the big shapes—tree trunks, the horizon, the ground—that could be discerned. Within moments, more details made themselves known; leaves and twigs, insects crawling on the bark, dust in the air.

What really surprised Naruto, however, was just how _still _everything seemed to be. The leaves in the trees were completely motionless, as were the motes of dust in the shafts of moonlight. His former sensei, in the exact same position as he had been before Naruto got sucked into his mindscape, still had his mouth open mid-taunt, probably still yelling how he was going to kill the "Kyuubi brat."

_What's going on, fox?_ Naruto mentally asked the Kyuubi.

_**I am accelerating the mental capacity of your mind one thousand fold for the moment, **_he responded. _**This way, you and I can have a conversation in this setting without needing to worry about damaging this body of yours.**_

_Really? _Asked Naruto. _How does that work?_

Kyuubi sighed. _**It is simple, really. I channel chakra to certain parts of your brain to increase processing rates, thus making your mind work a thousand times swifter. In this state, you can get the mental work done that would take you hours in mere moments.**_

_Wow…that's pretty cool,_ Naruto acknowledged grudgingly. _Was that what you wanted to show me?_

_**No, no, **_Kyuubi chuckled, _**not nearly. This is just a handy battlefield tactic that I thought you may need one day. You're not the brightest of them all, so you may need all the advantages you can get. Don't forget, if you die that really fucks it up for me, and I plan on staying around till the end of time.**_

_So…what now? _asked Naruto.

_**Just pay attention and try not to distract me,**_ Kyuubi snapped. _**I do not believe you want to miss this. **_Naruto felt a prickling in his mind, as if it was a limb that had been numb but was now regaining sensation. Tiny pinpoints of itching spread throughout his brain, in places that were impossible for the boy to scratch. It started at the back of his brain but quickly moved out to the sides and to the front, nearly overloading his senses. He recognized this feeling; it was what had happened the last time the fox had taken over his body, nearly a year beforehand. Naruto had been training for the better part of the day and had completely run out of chakra. In that weakened state it was simple for the Kyuubi to invade Naruto and have his way.

Naruto's vision was now crystal-clear, although he was not in control of his own senses. He felt his eyes move, but he wasn't the one moving them now. The world, which had seemed so still only moments beforehand, began to resume its course normally once again. The motes of dust that had hung in the air vanished, only to be replaced immediately by thousands, by millions of others exactly alike them. The leaves stirred in the trees, touched by a wind that had just been made still.

Mizuki's laugh once again filled Naruto's ears, picking up right where he had left off. His body, too, returned to the state it was before his meeting with the Kyuubi. The intense feeling of dread came back full-force to him, paralyzing him totally. He knew that it would not last, that the fox would release him from this horror eventually, but still he could not help but panic. The terror in his soul was just as strong now as it had been when he had seen his friend die.

Suddenly, Naruto felt his muscles begin to relax, beginning at the abdominals and spreading from there to his chest, arms, and legs. He felt the Kyuubi begin to further assert his dominance over his body, testing the fingers, toes, arms, and legs with mere twitches, as if running a full body inspection to make sure it would meet expectations. Apparently, it came to his liking, for as soon as every part of Naruto's body had been tested, raw demonic chakra began to flow through Naruto's chakra coils.

Every part of Naruto's body became supercharged, humming with a primordial power he had never felt before in his life. It was a rush a thousand million times greater than adrenalin, a billion times more addictive than opium, a trillion times more fulfilling than lust. The chakra flowing through his veins became like a second life inside of him, a new soul that inhabited Naruto's body right along with the boy. It was a power he had never felt before, as oppressive as a mountain to a pebble, as totally eclipsing to his own consciousness as a grand old tree to a stalk of grass. The new energy wrapped itself around Naruto, inside of Naruto, nearly consumed the boy's spirit as it filled every pore and cell to capacity.

Mizuki stopped his laughter as soon as he noticed the changes in the boy, his maniacal roaring quickly petering out to a nervous chuckle as a sense of imposing dread filled the air between Naruto and him. Kyuubi, on the other hand, hardly even seemed to notice Mizuki as he filled his essence into the mold of Naruto's body. Kyuubi's demonic chakra emanated from Naruto's body in grand pulses like ripples in a pond, starting small and concentrated close to Naruto's body and splashing out to become larger, thicker rings of power. Any chance that Mizuki had of escaping from Kyuubi and making it to safety was eradicated the moment the first pulse of chakra hit his body; it slammed into him like a physical force, driving him back twenty paces until he was forcibly halted by a small tree. He cried in pain as a loud snap rang out over the forest; his back had been broken by the impact, regardless of the flack jacket he wore that was supposed to guard against that sort of thing.

Naruto watched himself in amazement as the Kyuubi's chakra did more to his body than fill it; out of his peripheral vision, near the bottom of his sight, he could see the fingernails on his hands grow out and harden into what more resembled claws—and he was sure the same was happening to his toes as well. At the same time, he felt a tremble in his muscles as tendons and ligaments tightened and fused.

_What the hell are you doing you damn fox?! _Naruto asked mentally, enraged at the demon.

_**Hmm…this is an unforeseen side-effect,**_ Kyuubi calmly replied. _**I am far more beastial than my brethren, those of the demon clans. I am less demon than Kitsune, when it all comes right down to it. It seems that my channeling this much chakra though your body, little though it is, is causing a few…physiological changes inside of you.**_

_Like what?! Can you make it stop? Is this bad?_

_**It's not…bad, exactly. Not really. All that is happening at this point is your muscles are becoming more like that of a fox. We are more suited to hunting than you humans are; our muscles are more finely-tuned for agility and grace than you. Right now all that is happening to you is your body is becoming more agile and dexterous. Your joints are changing slightly so that you can become more flexible, and your muscles are compensating along with them.**_

_Did you do this?! _Naruto mentally screamed at Kyuubi.

_**No, I didn't. But this is a good thing; only two tails worth of chakra flowing through you right now, and this is what happens. Makes me wonder what would happen if I put more in…**_

_Forget it! We're done here, fox. Mizuki is beaten, he's going to die whether or not we deal the finishing blow. We're _done _here. Give me back control right _now.

Kyuubi chuckled, a sound that Naruto didn't like one bit. _**If you wish, boy…but aren't you the slightest bit interested in what it was I wanted to show you in the first place?**_

Naruto paused momentarily; although it was very rare for Kyuubi to show him anything, it was always something well worth his time. _All right, _Naruto said, _show me and get it over with, whatever it is._

_**I knew you would see it my way,**_ Kyuubi said with a grin on Naruto's face. He licked his lips, as if in anticipation of a grand meal. _**I am going to show you where you failed while your dear friend succeeded in the Kage Bunshin. Would you like to know why he was so much better than you in that regard? Well, I will tell you. He doesn't have the assistance of a demon to aid him with his chakra; he had to do it all by himself. In the past, I have witnessed many jutsu, most of them requiring a good amount of control to perform. The unique quality of the Kage Bunshin is that you can do it with minimal control, as long as a massive amount of chakra is thrown into the mix. The problem with you was, even though with my aid your control is perfect, you were reluctant to put your all into it. You tried to figure out what you were doing wrong with the seals, but you couldn't figure it out, could you? It wasn't the seals that were holding you back—even though they can be shortened to one sign—but your reliance on me.**_

_Hold on a minute,_ said Naruto, _does this mean you're actually holding me back somewhat?_

…_**you could put it like that, I suppose. The Kage Bunshin was actually created by a shinobi who had little control at the time. He could not make a standard Bunshin, so he adapted. As his control grew and he became more familiar with it, he soon was able to create at much as a hundred clones**_

_**The odd thing about shinobi is, those with vast chakra reserves seem to have abysmal control in the beginning, and vice-versa. You are a unique case—vast artificial control combined with vast artificial reserves. It is creating an imbalance inside of you that must be rectified soon if you wish to master this jutsu.**_

_Rectified? What do you mean, rectified?_

_**I mean…it's time for you to stand on your own two feet, kid. I've held your hand long enough. It's time for you to make do on your own. First though…a parting gift.**_

_What do you mean, parting gift?_

_**I will show you how to do the Kage Bunshin in a way that you'll understand, kit. This is a very powerful jutsu—you don't have any idea just how versatile it is. It could prove to be a useful tool in your arsenal one day.**_

_So…how do you do it? What is the secret?_

The fox chuckled again. Naruto was beginning to be wary of that sound. _**Just watch me, boy,**_ he said. _**This should be entertaining. **_The Kyuubi turned his attention to the quivering form of Mizuki; it wasn't until just then that Naruto realized that Kyuubi had done that mind acceleration thing to him again; in the minutes that Kyuubi had seduced more time out of Naruto, only an instant had passed with the traitor.

Kyuubi stalked toward Mizuki, crimson chakra trailing off of his body, a red aura covering his body. Phantasm ears sprouted from his head, made wholly of menacing chakra; beside that, what appeared to be two tails made of chakra had sprouted from Naruto's rear. They swayed to and fro in the space behind him; out of the corner of his mind, Naruto noticed that they weren't mere illusions or an insubstantial energy field, as they incinerated grasses and protruding roots as Kyuubi made his way to the helpless Chuunin.

A guttural sound came from Naruto's throat. Was that…purring? Naruto didn't think that foxes _could _purr. Pure satisfaction seeped out of Kyuubi's soul, such as it was. This was the first time that he had been able to sate his bloodlust, and he was going to enjoy every moment of it. _**"Hey, Mizuki," **_Kyuubi said, sounding calmer than he was in reality. _**"How're thing going for you right now? Not so good, huh? Well, I guess that's what happens when you fuck with a greater demon." **_His tone, surprisingly, came off as compassionate, empathic. He sounded for a moment as if he actually cared about what happened to Mizuki…but that was just a small sample of psychological torture, letting him think that for even a moment he had a chance to live.

"_**Does that hurt?" **_Kyuubi asked Mizuki, poking him in the stomach at the exact point where his spine had snapped. The chakra-enveloped finger seared through Mizuki's clothing and flesh, digging down into the bone. Oddly enough, the raw energy of the demonic chakra cauterized the wound it had created, immediately stopping any blood flow. Mizuki let out an unearthly howl of pain and anguish as Kyuubi did this; if it had been Naruto in control, his ears would have been ringing. Kyuubi smiled slightly. _**"I'll take that as a yes."**_

Kyuubi crouched down so that his eyes were level with Mizuki's. _**"You know, human," **_he said, _**"I have the power to heal you if you so wish it, and I would be willing to save you from a most painful demise…under one condition, of course."**_

Hatred shone in Mizuki's eyes. "And…w-what would that be?" he panted. He was wracked by pain, beads of sweat dripping down his face.

"_**Are you willing to do whatever it takes? Give up your freedom, give up your soul? Give up any independence you ever had, as long as you survive?"**_

"I—" he began, but a sudden spasm silenced him in a mute scream of agony. His head was thrown back, his throat exposed, his eyes bugging out.

"_**Well, what do you say, human? Do you want to live another day? Do you want to walk away from here on your own two feet, the slave of the greatest demon lord?" **_He moved his face inches away from Mizuki's. _**"Or do you want to die?"**_

Mizuki looked like a man possessed, blood dripping from a cut on his forehead, saliva pooling at the corner of his mouth, and veins in his eyes as vibrant as a map. "YES!!" he screamed at the top of his failing lungs, "I WANT TO LIVE!! SAVE ME AND I'LL BE YOUR SLAVE, JUST DON'T LET ME DIE LORD KYUUBI!!"

The fox chuckled. _**"Good, good. That is another lesson humans rarely learn before they die—humility." **_Realization lit up in Mizuki's eyes as Kyuubi stepped away from him. _**"You finally get it, human: I am greater than you. I hold the keys to life and death for you. One will save you, the other destroy you. Can you guess which door I will open for you today?" **_The acrid smell of urine floated through the air as a dark stain coated Mizuki's pants. _**"Ah, I see you have guessed what will happen to you tonight. You will die without ceremony, without defense. Do you know why I want to kill you, human?" **_Kyuubi darted forward so quickly Mizuki banged his head against the tree in shock. Kyuubi was so close to Mizuki's face that the chakra aura actually singed Mizuki's nose. _**"You just pissed me off. And those who piss me off…well, we both know what happens after that."**_

Kyuubi backed up from Mizuki about ten feet and took the scroll off of his back. _**"All of this was for this scroll, wasn't it, you bastard? You just wanted the secrets stored inside of this. For this scroll, you killed two that really didn't need to die. Oh, don't look at me like that you idiot. You think I like killing? …Well, yeah, I do. But that's only with people that deserve it. They didn't. And guess what? I know for a fact that there **_**is **_**a place called Hell—and you bought yourself a one-way ticket there tonight." **_He turned and looked over his shoulder at a horror-stricken Mizuki. _**"But first…how about a little demonstration of the power you worked so hard to steal?"**_

Kyuubi dropped the scroll on the ground and put his hands together in a strange cross-shaped pattern. _**"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!!!" **_he cried, and instantly a thousand clones of Naruto popped into existence around Mizuki and Kyuubi—all of whom had the glow of the Kyuubi around them.

"_**Uh-oh," **_mumbled the original Kyuubi. _**"This isn't good." **_One by one, the clones disintegrated into clouds of crimson smoke.

_Uh-oh?! What the fuck you mean 'uh-oh', you damn fox?!_

The Kyuubi instantly super-accelerated Naruto's mind again. _**"I…made a mistake kit. I performed the Kage Bunshin before I lowered my chakra output. All that chakra got distributed throughout each and every clone…evenly. Strong as I am right now, that made the clones too unstable to maintain form. On top of that, your chakra has nearly run out."**_

My_ chakra? I thought you were using only _your_ chakra to do this!_

"_**I was. But the human body wasn't designed to handle demonic chakra. Your chakra automatically responded to try to drive me out of your body as soon as I came in control. Of course, I easily overcame it, but I thought you would be able to put up a better fight than this. Your chakra is nearly depleted, and if it runs out, my own will fill the void it leaves. The problem is, if that happens, your tenketsu will become overloaded and burn out. Best-case scenario if that happens—you lose the ability to use nin- or genjutsu.**_

_And the worst-case?_

"_**You die. End of story. At this exact moment, you have—maybe—five percent of your capacity left. That's hardly enough to live off of. I'm sorry about this, but it looks like you'll have to use 'that' jutsu a lot sooner than you would have wanted. That's the simple truth if you want to live, boy."**_

If Naruto had a spine at the moment to control, it would have gone numb. _No…no way in hell I'm doing that. I never even wanted to learn that from you, baka-fox! How do you expect me to do that to someone else like this? The repercussions are unknown! You even admitted to me that you had never heard of one human using it on another human being before. What if I get stuck half-way and can't get out? Did you think of that?_

"_**Yes I did. If you don't do this, you will die. If you do do it, you have perhaps a fifty percent chance of living, which is a damn lot more than you would have otherwise. Do it. You don't have much other choice."**_

Naruto was silent for a moment. _Damn you, fox, _he said. _Damn you to hell and back._

As Naruto felt the fox's chakra slipping out of his body and back to the pit where it had come from, as he felt the consciousness of the demon leave his mind, a soft chuckle followed him down. _**"No need, my boy," **_he said as he sank from awareness. _**"I have already been there more times than I would have liked. It's not all it's cracked up to be." **_And just like that, Naruto was on his own.

* * *

So, how did you guys like it? Be honest with me, please. I know a lot of you want to kill me for what I just did with that cliffy, but you gotta admit it'll bring a lot of you guys back for more. This one was a lot shorter than the other chapters, I know, and I had intended for it to be a lot longer than it was, but as I have said before, my fingers do the writing, not the brain. It's not my fault if something happens on here that you don't approve of, it's the digits'. Bring it up to the complaint department.

What is Naruto planning? Will he survive the encounter with Mizuki? What is "that" jutsu? Am I on drugs? These questions will be answered next chapter, along with many others you may have (except for the last one, my lawyer would kill me if he knew I was writing this down).

I am still in need of someone who can translate jutsu; this thing really won't get off the ground until I can get someone to help out with that. If I can't get an effective translator, I'll have to do it myself, but I may get it wrong and have a billion people start yelling at me for bastardizing the sacred Japanese language. The first jutsu I'll need help on is "that" jutsu; I already know what it does and how it works, I even know the English name for it…but I DON'T KNOW THE JAPANESE TRANSLATION. Any help would be nice. Really, really nice. Like chocolate pudding with bananas cut up into it with whipped cream spread out over it with peanuts placed on top.

That is, unless you're allergic to chocolate, bananas, nuts, or are lactose intolerant. Damn, that would suck, wouldn't it?

I have to say, I'm extremely surprised at how much support I'm getting for this thing so far. Since I reposted the fic after some ahem technical difficulties, I've gotten 22 reviews, been favorited by 21 authors, and—get this—been put on the story alert list by 42 people so far. That means that when I load this onto the net, at least 42 people are gonna want to know about it. That makes me feel so special inside. It really does.

I've decided that he will have Kakashi, Maito Gai, Asuma, Morino Ibiki, Anko, and Inuzuka Tsume. Voting is closed, and that's it. For the fic, for reasons which I will not go into right now, all six of these are vitally important to the storyline. I took out Ebisu and Genma because whatever they could teach could just as easily be taught by Kakashi or someone else, although one of Naruto's team members will receive extra-special instruction from one of the top Jounin in the Narutoverse…but don't bother guessing. You'll never figure it out on your own.

I'm still on the fence about which story-arc to do the extra couple chapters on, the Waterfall or Snow. If anyone wants to read about those, cast your votes in now, because after the next few chapters polls will be closed. Your vote really does matter here, people. Don't let me down.

Not exactly sure when the next chapter will be up, but it's coming. Don't really know how consistent I can be with this, either; in the next six months, I'll probably be leaving semi-permanently from this site. It's WAY too early to talk about adopting this fic to somebody else, but if someone thinks they can help me out with this, they're more than encouraged to send me a resume.

Unless I'm forgetting something, that's about all I have to say to you people right now. Review (something intelligent, please) and let me know what you think. Feel free to guess what's coming up next; I enjoy watching you squirm.


	5. High Noon

Everybody who's coming back to this, I appreciate it. I really do. I wrote this whole thing in about two days, and I have to say I am emotionally drained. I still have homework I gotta do, but this really takes priority. I had to finish this, 'cause it just wouldn't get off of my mind. Naruto was bouncing off around in my head and I couldn't get the little bugger to stop for anything, so I just started typing and didn't stop. I spent maybe four hours typing this today, and about the same yesterday, and I'm just exhausted. I learned a valuable lesson with chapter 4: never write while under the influence of _anything, _even sugar. Caffeine is ok, but in small doses.

Hope you guys like this; read on, and please try not to hate me.

* * *

Chapter 5

In all of his young life, Naruto had never felt a pain such as this. Every tendon in his body screamed in agony as each muscle twitched and convulsed in automatic reactions. The bones inside of him felt like molten lead, burning him from the inside-out. His flesh felt like fire incarnate, his blood as ice. Every part of his being screamed out in protest over the exertion he had put it through.

_I'm sorry, I'm sorry _he would have said, if he could have. _It's not my fault, don't blame me, I'm sorry._ Not that his body would have believed him; it was the ultimate betrayal of trust from him that he had done this to him. The raw energies of the demonic chakra that had suffused his form had temporarily given him unmatchable power, but at the high price of excruciating pain afterwards in comeuppance. Such power always came with a price, and Naruto was now paying for it in dividends. It was not a price he was willing to pay, nor was it one he had anticipated in the first place, but nevertheless it was there, stalking him like a hungry wolf.

He had been standing when the Kyuubi had relinquished control of Naruto's body back to him, and had been able to hold that position for several seconds after regaining his mobility. Unknown to him, however, that was not to last; within bare seconds of the fox's departure, the first pains began creeping up on him. First, a cramp at the exact point where the fox resided began to form, twisting itself around the seal on his belly and gradually expanding outwards to his groin, his chest, his arms, his head. It started as a dull throb, but quickly and viciously graduated into a full-body torture. Every part of him felt like it was burning, or was having a winter waterfall run through it, or being subjected to the most insidious torture imaginable—no, no torturer could make any prisoner feel such as this, for it would surely kill them within seconds.

The only reason that Naruto didn't fall victim of the fallout of the Kyuubi was because he was still in somewhat of a state of emotional shock; apparently, just as Naruto had been able to talk with a cool head inside of the mindscape that was Kyuubi's domain, he had been similarly paralyzed while the fox was running the show. Now that the presence of the demon had worn off and Naruto was in conscious control of his body, however, the ramifications of what had happened came full-force onto the boy. No longer was he a passive observer of events outside of his control; now he could feel firsthand the after-math of the Kyuubi possession.

It hurt just to move. It hurt just to breathe. It hurt just to _think._ Apparently, the effects of the demonic chakra didn't just extend to the body, but the mind. It felt to Naruto as if a rusty spike was being driven into each ear, millimeters at a time. He would have screamed in pain if he could have, but that was impossible—to do so would have surely done more damage to his lungs than he could have afforded. He held in the cries, but how he did not know.

Somewhere over the rushes and volleys of pain, he could hear the sadistic laugh of his former sensei as he, too, lay dying. Blood dribbled out of his mouth in thin streams as they ran over his chin and pooled on his vest. One line of red stubbornly refused to leave his skin as it slid down his neck to collect in the hollow of his throat, looking like nothing so much as a gaping wound. "L…looks like I win after all," he rasped to himself. "I just wanted t-" he coughed up blood—too much blood—"to see you dead. S- so many of my friends and family died when you attacked all t-those years ago. I j-just wished I could have d-done it a long time ago." He laughed again. "Look at y-you," he chuckled. "T-the great demon fox…dying at my feet."

Anger fueled Naruto's soul. Somehow, he wasn't quite sure how, he managed to push past the pain slowly killing him and prop himself to his knees. He crawled over to the broken Chuunin, rage in his eyes. He grabbed the collar of Mizuki's vest to haul himself up so that he could see straight into his eyes. Horror filled his face as fear took over him. "I. Am. Not. The. FOX!!!" Naruto shouted. "How many times must I tell you people! I am not the Kyuubi, and he is not me! And I am not going to die here, you idiot." He reached to the top of the zipper on Mizuki's vest and pulled it down, exposing the black undershirt most Chuunin and Jounin seemed to prefer.

Panic overtook Mizuki. "W-what are you doing?" he nearly shrieked.

"I'm saving my life," Naruto growled through the red-hot pain pulsing throughout him. "Now stay still. I don't know if this'll hurt or not, but chances are the more you struggle the more fucked up you'll be."

"Stay still? W-what are you doing? GET YOUR DAMN HANDS OFF OF ME!!"

In response, Naruto just hit him in the face as hard as he could. Although his arm and shoulder exploded in pain, it brought grim satisfaction to the boy. _That's the least he'll have to worry about,_ Naruto thought as he ripped the front of Mizuki's shirt away from his chest with trembling hands.

_Do I really want to do this? _he thought to himself. _Do I want to drop down to his level?_

An insidious voice inside of Naruto spoke up—not the Kyuubi, for he was temporarily out of action, but what amounted to his own conscience. _What choice do you have, you moron? _it said. _He would have killed you if he had the chance. If you don't do it you'll die right along with him. If you don't do it within the next few minutes, he'll be dead, and you'll have lost your chance. He'll die anyway, so what do you care?_

_Damn it,_ Naruto thought to himself. _Even my own conscience is egging me on to kill the bastard. _He gritted his teeth as he prayed a silent prayer that he was doing the right thing. _Please, whoever is watching me, help me out here. _He tore the remnants of Mizuki's shirt off of his body and pushed his vest down his shoulders, leaving him bare-chested. Numerous scars crisscrossed his body his torso and arms, and Naruto could just see the top of a tattoo poking from the hem of Mizuki's vest, but time was of the essence and couldn't be bothered to examine it.

_I hate this, I hate this, I hate this _Naruto repeated over and over in his mind. He took some of the still-wet blood from his body (had it really only been five or six minutes since his friend had died? It seemed a lifetime ago.) and etched out a seal on Mizuki's chest as quickly as he could without smudging it. The seal was composed of dozens of symbols in a spiral design originating from the spot on his chest where his heart lay below. They looped and looped around each other until they stopped, forming a great vortex that lead off of his body.

_Now all I need is…this. _Wiping his hands clear of any blood on Mizuki's pants, he reached into his kunai holster and pulled out a cylindrical metal tube. _I guess I have Kyuubi to thank for forcing me to carry this with me no matter what,_ he thought. _If this had all happened just a month before now…I wouldn't have a chance. I still might die, but at least I'll take the bastard with me. _He popped the lid off of the tube and pulled out two square pieces of paper, each one about five inches long and wide. They were identical, the end result and final product after months of work, thousands of attempts. They were perfect in every way, not a drop of ink out of place, each one approved by the Kyuubi himself for what they were intended to do.

_God above, forgive me_ prayed Naruto as he selected one of the paper seals and put it on Mizuki's chest right at the epicenter of the swirls of signs. Immediately, the bloody characters on Mizuki's chest started to glow a hellish crimson, with wisps of bright black flickering between the twisted columns of ancient calligraphy. The seal did the same, as the ink on the paper had been chakra-infused blood, highly concentrated and very volatile. Kyuubi had warned him that if he didn't perform the ritual _exactly _right, the explosion could be seen for miles around.

Naruto gritted his teeth as the characters on the paper actually _slid _off of the paper an onto Mizuki's chest, joining and mingling with the ones already there. They twisted around each other like serpents dancing a deadly waltz, leaping over and under one another like waves of the sea lines of character twisting and lining up in intricate patterns that could make you dizzy if you tried to follow them too long and make any sense of it all.

Finally, there was only one seal on the paper, right at the center of it all, the symbol for "fire." With a flash, the paper disintegrated into ash—

And at the spot where the paper seal had been, a black, glowing pit the size of his fist now made its claim. The lines of characters slowed down until they were again in the pattern that they had been in before, but with several new columns to add to the party. All was still, until one of the lines began to move, not around the others of its kind, but _into _the hole on Mizuki's chest, wriggling deep down into it with the next one, and the next one right after it. Soon there were no more bloody characters on his chest, just the glowing black hole though his chest.

By now the pain had retreated into a dull bodily throb, but if he could have lived the rest of his life with the original agony and not have to do this, he would have. That, however, was not his fate—it was do or die time, quite literally. He knew what he had to do, had practiced it a hundred time with the Kyuubi in the mindscape, but this was the first time actually doing it on another human being. He always knew, since the fox began teaching him about it, that it might come to this, but it was his fervent wish that it never would. This wasn't something that was meant for mortals—or for demons. It was the youngest gods that had created this technique, when the universe was newly formed and creatures like humans were first created. They knew the value of "survival of the fittest" and learned to drain each other's power, eventually growing to the rank equal of that of some of the elder gods. They were what human societies across the world called the "fallen", the ones that followed the one god to Earth and reveled in the destruction caused by the Bijuu. They were the first gods to learn to hate, and the first to learn to kill. If the Hokage knew of this jutsu, it would certainly be classified a double-s-class kinjutsu.

Naruto placed the second paper seal on his own chest. It stuck automatically as he knew it would, reacting with his chakra to cling to his flesh. The characters on it glowed the same hellfire red that the first one had, being its brother in blood. He closed his eyes momentarily, lids tight with pain. _It's not too late to stop right now. I could stop this…_

_And die,_ his inner monologue noted. _Just do it. You've come this far, he's done for. The only question right now is whether you die with him._

He opened his eyes and mentally banished the other part of his conscious. It was right, but he didn't have to like it. On command, honed by a thousand practice runs, his hands flew through a series of hand signs that were a blur to the eyes. Horse, tiger, ram, tiger, rat…it went on and on. Finally, after the one hundred and twenty-fifth hand sign, he placed his hands in a position no shinobi had ever used before; clasping his hands together, extending his thumb, ring, and pinkie fingers outward at Mizuki while holding his index and middle fingers down, he shouted the name of the jutsu that had created so many problems for the boy. His voice rang out across the forest in an unearthly howl, accompanied by echoes that seemed to feed off of each other and multiply.

**"Ma Zoku Fuunin: Gairyoku no Kumunosumyou - Demonic Seal: Force of Draining Life!"**

For a moment, nothing happened, and Naruto was afraid that something had gone wrong, horribly wrong. It was then that the pain started anew.

Oh, the pain.

Naruto felt the characters on the paper seal wriggle their way off of the paper and onto his chest. It felt like tiny little insects crawling their little bodies across his skin; quite frankly, it kind of tickled. They danced their way across, up and down his chest, just as Mizuki's had, but only a few lines made their way across his body, as it was only the paper seal he was using instead of a chest full of script.

The characters stilled themselves, and the paper burned itself out, just as its brother had. The pain from the heat scorched him, but that was nothing compared to the full-body agony he had endured just moments before. The real pain began when the ashes fell to the ground, exposing a black hole similar to the one Mizuki wore, but much smaller in diameter—only about an inch. Black light emanated from it in an ethereal glow, licking at the rim of the crater and rising up to caress his chest. _That _was the real pain, the black fire which did not burn. It coated the inside of the hole, like a glass holds water, filling him with the most intense agony imaginable.

His hands wavered, but he forced himself to keep steady; failure meant death, and failure was not an option. Sweat popped up and beaded his body, except for the area surrounding the hole on his heart. The intense heat of the fire evaporated the sweat before it could even exit the glands, making the skin raw and irritated.

_Just hold on a minute longer,_ he said to himself. _You're almost there, just a bit more… _He told himself this, knowing that the next two minutes would be the longest in his young life. He felt his hands begin to vibrate; the Kyuubi told him that's when the critical moment would occur. He focused his eyes on the chest of Mizuki, on the hole, and after a very short moment, saw something crawling out.

It was one of the lines of characters, pulling itself out over the rim of the cavity. It found purchase and dragged itself out, inch by inch, until most of it was laying wrapped around the other side of his torso. Connected to the other end of it was a chunk of energy that looked to Naruto suspiciously like a head…

And in fact, it _was _a head, in the shape of Mizuki himself. Kyuubi told Naruto that he didn't know what form the energy would take, only that it would definitely have one if only to maintain structure. As the tendril pulled itself completely out of the hole, Naruto saw that the very end of it was wrapped around "Mizuki's" throat, quickly followed by another, and another, each one grasping onto some part of his body: first the shoulders, then elbows, wrists, legs, feet, until all of him was floating in the space between him and Naruto. Some of the tendrils still were inside of the hole, but they seemed to just be there for the others to have purchase. Most of them, however, were grasping onto a part of the real Mizuki's body and levitating it in the air, pushing it slowly toward Naruto. Once it got within five or six inches of Naruto's chest, the characters that had pulled themselves inside of him snaked their way out and grabbed onto the glowing figure that represented all of the chakra Mizuki had in his body. Once they got a firm grasp on him, the tendrils gripping his head and shoulders let go of Mizuki's body an flipped over to Naruto's, slipping inside of his own hole and pulling it inevitably inside. The head narrowed like a noodle to fit inside of his hole as it was pulled along, then the shoulders, with the rest of the body to follow.

Once the entire "body" was inside of Naruto and all the tendrils of characters had snaked along behind it, then, and only then did he release the hand sign he had been holding. He felt somewhat more invigorated than he had before, with a little bit more chakra inside of him—not a lot, but he was now up to about twenty percent capacity.

_That's…enough,_ he thought somewhat sluggishly. _I'm…alive. _This was his last though before he collapsed to the bloody earth in pure physical exhaustion.

* * *

_Beep…beep…beep. _Naruto had been dreaming again, this time about some girl in a kabuki mask. She was waving a fan in his face, and every time it came near him he got splashed with droplets of water. The fan had a mirror finish; with every flick of her wrist, he could see himself a dozen times. 

_Beep…beep…beep. _The girl faded into mist, to be replaced by a boy of about the same age. He could see this boy's face, but for the life of him, couldn't focus on it. He was dancing around, playing with the wind with his hands. With every motion, a breath of air wove itself around him, caressing his body.

Beep…beep…beep. The boy vanished into the very air that he mastered, himself replaced by a man in a kimono. The man…wanted Naruto. He lusted after the boy. He wanted his body, at any cost. He came over to Naruto, bent down, and kissed him on the neck, right behind his ear.

"…I'm not sure what happened, Hokage-sama. Blood everywhere, three bodies, and him? Sounds like a failed kidnapping to me." A voice came from above Naruto, waking him from his slumbers. He felt a prick in his arm, a small needle inside of his vein delivering critical nutrients to his bodily systems. "I think that someone tried to kidnap the kid—Kami _knows _how many people would want a weapon like that—Iruka or Mizuki saw it, recruited the other, and was followed by Youichi, who already had the scroll."

A faint smell of smoke filled the room, an aroma that Naruto quickly recognized. _Old man? What are you doing here? _He kept his breathing pattern the same as it was before, as near as he could tell. He wanted to hear what they had to say, and anything that he could learn without them knowing would probably be to his benefit.

"I'm not so sure, Oushi-sempai," said another voice, somewhat lighter than the first. "I was the first to see the body of Iruka, and I'm sure the wound that killed him was created by the giant shuriken Mizuki seemed to favor. I just can't see someone grabbing that from him and killing Iruka, just to make it seem as if it was a fight between the two."

"You make a good point, Yuugao-chan," said the Hokage of Konohagakure. "But until the blood tests come back positive, we won't know for certain. All we really know is that Naruto got involved, and something happened that made the Kyuubi come out, if only for a few scant minutes." He sighed, and it sounded like he sat down on one of the uncomfortable chairs next to the bed. "I have a bad feeling about this," he said. "This doesn't bode very well for Konoha. Something is brewing, and I don't like it. It's just…a feeling I have."

The two ANBU looked at each other's maskless faces and exchanged a nod. Whenever the Sandaime had a feeling like this, they knew from experience that it had grounds.

"Is that why you have half the ANBU second regiment stationed outside the door?" the man asked—Oushi, it was.

The Hokage paused for a moment, as if unsure of his own words. "No," he finally said, but did not elaborate. He didn't need to; both of his soldiers knew the only other reason to have so many shinobi so close to the boy. If the Kyuubi had escaped the seal, even for a second, he could very well still be working inside the boy. If that was the case, and woke up as soon as Naruto did, they would be hard-pressed to even momentarily stall the demonic entity. That the Hokage himself was there in the room spoke of how dire the situation was.

A knock on the door distracted them all from their thoughts. "Enter," Sandaime Sarutobi barked. The door opened wide, admitting a silver-haired Jounin. "Ah, Kakashi, it is you."

"I returned the scroll to your tower just as you ordered, Hokage-sama," he said as he shut the door. "Oushi-san, Yuugao-san," he said to the two others in greeting.

"I apologize for asking you to do a seemingly-menial task as escorting the scroll, Kakashi," said the Hokage, "but it is of utmost importance that it remain in safe hands. I suppose I should have better security than I do, but I never dreamed anyone—much less an academy dropout—would dare enter into there and steal something like that…no, _especially _that."

"Not at all, Hokage-sama," said Kakashi. "And don't beat yourself up like that; there was no way you could have predicted what was going to happen."

"I know," said Sarutobi. "But that won't stop me from feeling like I have failed once again, will it Kakashi?"

Kakashi chose not to reply, recognizing a rhetorical question when he saw one. In any case, Kakashi felt it was good to have a little bit of self-doubt once in a while—it prevented one from getting too cocky…a lesson he had made himself learn a long time ago.

"What now?" asked the one called Oushi. "Do we just wake him up, or let him sleep? From his condition earlier, I wouldn't be surprised if he sleeps for the next two days. Based on what the med-nin told me before you got here, his body was put through more strain than humanly possible tonight. At least fifty percent of his muscles have been damaged to some extent, but his bones suffer no breakage. His heart rate has increased roughly by half, and his body has gone under some…unusual changes."

"The head doctor _and _med-nin were stumped," added Yuugao. "The closest thing that his muscles represented that he knew of was some kind of animal, either a dog, or a wolf—"

"Or a fox," interjected Kakashi. "Am I correct?"

Yuugao nodded. "Exactly," she said. "He sent out for Inuzuka Hana, the best vet we have at the moment. She was sent for about five minutes before you arrived, Hokage-sama, so it shouldn't be long before she arrives."

The Hokage nodded. "Good work you two," he said to the pair of ANBU. "You've done good work tonight, and I'm proud of you." He smiled at the two, both of whom flushed with pride. "Go home and get some rest, please. I know you both are bone-tired, as am I. Take tomorrow—" he glanced at the clock on the wall "—I mean _today_" he said with a chuckle, "off. Go see your families; I know how lonely it can get in the barracks for you ANBU." Both of them thanked their Hokage gratefully and walked out of the room, presumably on their way home. Once the door was closed and he was sure that nobody was outside of their room (that didn't have authority to be there, anyway) Sarutobi turned to the prone figure of Naruto.

"Well, boy, do you want to explain to us just what the heck went on tonight?"

Naruto's body stiffened just a little bit in surprise. "How'd you know I was awake?" he asked as he pushed himself into a leaning position.

"I didn't," he chuckled, making Naruto go bright red in embarrassment. "But it was worth a shot, now wasn't it?" Kakashi took the seat on the other side of the bed, placed his elbows on his knees and propped his chin in his hands.

"This is him, huh?" he said, his one uncovered eye gazing lazily into Naruto. "Honestly, not much to look at, is he."

"Hey, look who's talking, Cyclops!" retorted Naruto, earning a snort from the Hokage. Naruto sensed a smile under the mask that seemed connected to his undershirt. "And why are you pretending not to know me? You're Inu-baka, right?"

"Inu-ero?" questioned Sarutobi. "What does he mean, Kakashi?"

Kakashi sighed. "He means he recognizes me from the times I've watched over him as an ANBU," he said. "Probably from my voice. I wore the dog mask, remember?"

"Ah, yes, now I see," said the Hokage. "But…Inu-ero?"

"It's because of all those perverted books he's always reading whenever he was supposed to be watching me!"

"…Supposed to be watching him?" growled Sarutobi. "Have you been shirking your duties, Kakashi? I told you, keeping him safe is a top priority. When did you let him out of sight?"

Naruto realized he had made a mistake. "No, wait, hold on, it wasn't anything like that!" he said. "I just got bored in the academy—we were going over the First Great Shinobi World War _again,_ so I just decided to skip the last hour of class and go to the roof, and sure enough there he was, giggling like one of Sasuke's fangirls over that stupid pervy book of his!"

Sarutobi fought to keep a straight face on as he processed the information. "Er…you caught him with one of his books?" he said, a laugh barely restrained.

"Ahem," coughed Kakashi. "We're getting kinda off-subject here. How about we get to why we're here, if you don't mind Hokage-sama?"

The old man chortled at the younger one's embarrassment. "All right, Kakashi, all right. I suppose you've taken enough abuse." He turned toward Naruto and locked eyes with the boy. "Now, if you don't mind, young man," he said, "could you explain why I have three fresh bodies in the morgue tonight?"

Any mirth that Naruto had had was instantly gone as the memories came rushing back to him. "Yeah," he said quietly. "I guess I could." It was painful for Naruto to recall the memories of the night—did all of it really happen just a few hours ago? "It all started when I was just watching some stars…" he said, and proceeded to describe everything that had occurred that night, from beginning to end, as closely as he could recall. Be began with following Youichi into the woods, catching up to him, and learning the Kage Bunshin right alongside the boy. Then came Iruka, then Mizuki, then the aftermath of the battles.

He paused momentarily when he got to the point where he was running dangerously low on chakra, and considered just omitting that part out entirely, but he knew that they would know if he was lying immediately. So he told the truth, every detail, no matter how small. He explained where he learned the jutsu and who had taught it to him, and how it worked. He described the pain associated with it, and the horror and utter fascination he felt when he saw the spectral Mizuki flow into his chest.

As he finished his tale, both Kakashi and Sarutobi had a grave look about their face. "Is that all?" the Sandaime asked in a neutral tone. Naruto had learned over the years that whenever he spoke like that, something was going on inside of his mind that could mean that something big was in the air. "Is that everything that you can remember?"

"Y-yeah," said Naruto. "I think so. If there's anything else I forgot, it really doesn't matter. That's all the key points that matter, anyway."

The Sandaime sighed as he took out his pipe, contrary to the "NO SMOKING" sign that hung not three feet from where he was sitting. Naruto had to grin to himself; it seemed that once you became Hokage, you earned the right to break a few rules every once in a while. "So the Kyuubi finally escaped, has it?" he asked as he put leaves inside of the pipe bowl and lit them.

"Not…exactly," said Naruto. "Not escaped, not. More like…he got time out for good behavior. He can't take over my body unless I let him, or I'm so exhausted I can't stop him. After tonight, though, I don't think that he'll be eager to try that again any time soon."

"And why is that?" asked the Hokage.

"Well, he said something about my own chakra supply being too small to effectively counter his. While his chakra is coursing through my body while he's in control, it pretty much overpowers my own. That causes me to burn through my chakra at a hyper-accelerated rate. That usually isn't a problem, as I can usually replace my chakra with his whenever I run low, but I think that whenever I use it myself, it's kinda…different than what happened last night."

Now _that _got the Hokage's attention. "Explain what you mean, please," he asked.

"Well…whenever _I _use the demonic chakra, it has to go through the seal on my belly first before I can actually use it. It feels a bit more…refined, if that's the right word, than what the Kyuubi did last night. Although it's a near-infinite supply of chakra, there's only so much I can use myself effectively. The amount of demonic chakra I can use, I figure through a couple years of experimentation, is roughly equal to my own chakra supply.

"Last night, however, when the demon fox was piloting me, the chakra didn't go through the seal, but came directly from the Kyuubi himself. It was unfiltered, so I had pure demonic chakra flowing through me at the time. He said something about me having two tails worth of chakra flowing through me. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but I may have something to do with the different levels of power the bijuu have."

"Elaborate," said Sarutobi.

"Well," said Naruto, "Kyuubi once said that the levels of the bijuu and their offspring were measured somewhat similarly to the way earthquakes were, but differently. A one-tailed kitsune of his demonic clan is at the bottom of the totem poll, while a two-tails is twice as strong as the one-tail. The next level up, three-tails, is three times as strong as the two…and so on and so forth."

"So the Kyuubi is nine times stronger than the eight-tailed kitsune?" asked Kakashi.

Naruto nodded. "Exactly," said Naruto.

Kakashi held up a couple fingers on one hand, and a couple on another. After a moment he paled slightly. "So…you weren't even using a tenth of a percent of the fox's total power, and it did _this _to you?"

"Yeah," said Naruto. "Kinda scary, isn't it?"

The Hokage chuckled. "That it is, my boy," said the old man. "Mizuki was a fool to try to kill you. Konoha intelligence have had their eye on him for quite some time. He was under suspicion of being a spy for someone…but we're not quite sure who at the moment. Stealing the scroll may have been a part of that, but further investigation will be necessary to confirm or debunk that theory." He took a puff from his smoldering pipe, a long, steady pull, and blew out a breath that might have come from a dragon. "I really am sorry that you had to do all of this, Naruto," said the Hokage. "If we had brought him into custody when we had first grown suspicious, this never would have happened."

"It- it's not your fault, old man," Naruto mumbled. "You couldn't have predicted this. I just wish…" he paused, and laughed. "You know how Mizuki convinced Youichi to steal the scroll? Well, Youichi did it in honor of his parents. They were killed by the Kyuubi that day, and he just wanted the power to protect those precious to him. He just wanted to be—" a sob escaped his throat, and tears began to collect in his eyes. "He just wanted to be a good shinobi, even with his limitations. It-it's not _fair _that he's dead and I'm alive. _He_ had the dreams, _he_ had the ambitions. I don't have any of that. I just live day-to-day, month-to-month, meal to meal. I'm a shinobi because that's what I was born to do, but what of it? Did I really have a choice in the matter? When did I really decide for myself that this was what I wanted to do? He had a _choice _to try to be a better shinobi by stealing the scroll, misguided as it was. Me?" He lay back down on the bed and stared blankly at the ceiling. "I don't really know _what _I want to do."

An uncomfortable silence rang loudly in the room. Kakashi shifted his body, leaning back in his chair with arms folded across his chest. The Hokage puffed on his pipe, one, two, three time before speaking to the boy. "You have a choice, Naruto," he said softly. "It is the truth that generation after generation, we produce children to be soldiers in our wars, children who never really were taught anything else. I know, firsthand, how terrible it can be sometimes. I know the horrors that can occur when young children are forced into battle and come out of alive—only to have their psyche scarred forever. That's why four years ago I forced the issue to the Konoha Council to limit the graduation age from the academy to twelve years; fifteen percent of children that left too long before that became somewhat…unstable.

"But never think that you don't have a choice, Naruto," said the Hokage in a louder tone. "Once you realize that the choice is there, it is yours to make. If you decide this instant that you no longer wish to be a shinobi, then you won't be. You can leave it all behind if you wish."

"And what? Be under ANBU guard for the rest of my life?"

Sarutobi shook his head sadly. "Yes, unfortunately. You're too big a risk to let out of the village on your own, you know, but the choice is still yours to make."

"Even if it's a choice nobody really approves of?" asked the blonde.

The Sandaime chuckled. "In my experience, Naruto," he said, "the vast majority of the choices that we humans make for ourselves very rarely meet with approval from more than a few of the people who surround us. But in the end, those choices are the most important ones of all, especially when total conviction is behind them. Nobody can decide who you are, my boy, least of all me. It is up to you to make sure that the path you follow is one that _you_ choose…and not to let anyone else make it for you."

A knock on the door interrupted him. "Enter," said the Sandaime. It opened, and a pretty woman stepped through. "Ah, Hana-chan, thank you for coming at this hour. Sorry to have disturbed you at such short notice, but we have something of an emergency about us."

The woman—little more than a girl, really—walked into the room bleary-eyed, a testament to her rude awakening. To be specific, her eyes were bloodshot, bags hung under her eyes, and a yawn that she couldn't suppress escaped her lips. "No prob-yawn-lem, Hokage-sama," she said, although she was obviously irritated at being woken up at two in the morning. "What's up Kakashi-san?"

"Well, we thought that you could tell us. What did the med-nin who retrieved you tell you about what happened tonight?"

"Not much," she admitted as she wiped a hand across her eyes. "Just that there was an emergency at the hospital in the critical care unit that my expertise was needed for. Is this about him?" she asked, pointing a finger at Naruto.

"Yes it is," said the Hokage. "A minor puzzle has us a bit baffled, and we were wondering if you could help us solve it.

"But—I specialize in animal treatment, not human," she pointed out. "What could you need me here for?"

"We know that, Hana-chan," Sarutobi said. "And that is exactly why we called for you to come here. If you could just please examine him as thoroughly as possible, I believe that you'd understand why."

"…Okay, I suppose so," she said. She went to the door and opened it and asked for someone outside to grab her a cup of coffee. "With extra sugar!" she shouted after the retreating ANBU. "It may be a long night," she explained to the trio in the room, "and I don't want to fall asleep any time soon." The three lone males in the room nodded; Naruto had been under examination by medical ninja several times before and knew total concentration was a necessary factory in the execution of medical jutsu.

Moments later the coffee, brought to her by an ANBU, arrived in the room. She thanked the man and took a long sip, then set it down on a small table. "All right, let's get to work," she said. "Pull the sheet off, please," she said to Naruto.

Naruto realized in horror for the first time that while he was bare-chested, he was also naked as the day he was born under the thin cotton sheet. "Um…I'm not so sure that that's such a good idea, Hana," he said.

"Oh? Why?" After seeing the blush on his face, she instantly put it together. "Oh, come on kid!" she exclaimed. "I'm a professional, you know!"

"It's not that," he mumbled as he bunched up the blankets around his mid-section. "It's just that—well—you're kinda…pretty and…"

She snorted and put a hand to her mouth. "You're afraid of having an- uh…" she eyed the elder shinobi in the room "…reaction?"

"It's not my fault!" said Naruto. "The damn fox has a libido the size of the Hokage monument. Every time I see a woman with even a little bit of cleavage the Kyuubi kicks into overdrive to try to get me to…" he noticed the smile on each one of their faces. "It's not funny guys!" he shouted, which just prompted them to burst out laughing. "It's not!"

"I know, I know," said Hana through the laughter. "It's a s- s- serious case that," whatever she was going to say was drowned out by the belly laugh that she had been holding in.

"I think what she means, Naruto," said Kakashi, the only one to keep most of his composure, "is that it's not that big a deal." He turned to Hana, who was taking another long sip of coffee. "Do you think you could do something to—er—help him out?"

She set the cup back down and scrunched up her eyes. "Perhaps," she said, "if I can just tinker with the ANS—the part of your brain that does that kind of thing, Naruto—it could stop him from having that sort of condition."

"Do it," Naruto said, "and get this all over with, please."

"All right, all right," she chuckled. "Hokage-sama, Kakashi-san? Could you please step outside for a few moments? I'll call you in when I'm done with the examination, but I just work best in quiet environments."

"Of course," Sarutobi said as he stood up and left the room, Kakashi right behind him. "We'll be back within the hour, so take your time. Be as careful as possible with his brain—I don't think he could take much more damage to _that _part of his body, quite frankly." With that parting quip, he shut the door behind Kakashi, leaving an indignant Naruto shouting mild obscenities at the old man with a beautiful young woman.

"Lie down, Naruto," she said as she placed her hands above Naruto's head as they began to glow green with chakra. "And keep still. This may take a while, so I'm going to put you to sleep. I'll wake you up whenever I finish, and you can't—uh, _react—_while you're asleep. Putting you to sleep is a great deal safer than messing with your brain, and quite frankly I don't trust myself not to do something wrong up there."

"O-ok, I guess," he said as he made himself comfortable. "Whenever you're rea…" he began, but didn't have time to finish, as she had already lulled him to sleep with her chakra.

"This should be interesting," she mumbled as the boy fell unconscious. "Time to get to work."

* * *

When the Hokage and Kakashi returned to the hospital room, Hana was sitting in the chair to Naruto's right cradling an empty cup of coffee, the boy still asleep. 

"Is that coffee?" she asked Kakashi as he walked into the room.

"Well, yes, but—" he didn't have a chance to protest as Hana grabbed the paper cup from his hand and downed a quarter of it in one long chug. She handed it back to the Jounin after wiping her lips with a sleeve, a bemused look on his face. "…You're welcome?" he said, but got no reply.

"I take it you found something interesting," Sarutobi said as he took the one remaining empty seat in the room, forcing Kakashi to stand.

"Interesting isn't the word I'd use," Hana said. "More like…baffling or confusing. I performed a diagnostic jutsu on Naruto, beginning from his head to his feet, and found the same thing that the med-nin who first treated him probably did. His entire muscular and organ system has gone under some pretty severe modifications, all probably the result of what transpired earlier tonight—most of which I'll never know, right?"

"I'm sorry, Hana-chan" said the Hokage. "It's an S-class event, one that could compromise security if word got out about it."

She sighed. "I understand, Hokage-sama," she said. "Anyway, his internal _and _external functions have undergone modifications. I don't know where to start, it's all so confusing."

"Just start from the top, Hana," said Kakashi, "and work you way down."

She nodded. "All right," she said. "First off, his head. Nothing too big there, but I did notice that his olfactory senses have become much more sensitive than they were before. He confirmed this before he went to sleep—naturally this time, he was bone-tired. His teeth are the same, for the most part, but now I think if he channeled his chakra through them they may grow as much as half an inch, perhaps even more.

"His muscular systems have gone under some pretty—interesting changes, as well. They still resemble regular human muscles, but have somehow changed their structure. The only thing that I can think of to compare them to is some sort of canine—a wolf, a dog…or a fox." She paused for a moment and seemed to collect her thoughts. "His organs," she continued, "have also changed somewhat. If I had to guess, I'd say that it would process food and nutrients much more effectively than it did before.

"His bones have changed as well; they're a lot more dense than normal, but have thinned out somewhat and have a lot more space inside of them. Again, I'm only guessing, but he could probably produce twice the amount of blood as a regular human his age and size by now."

"Does Naruto know this yet?" asked Kakashi.

Hana nodded. "Yes," she said. "I woke him up when I finished with the diagnostic, and he promptly fell back to sleep. He was so tired, he just fell back onto the pillow and was out like a light.

A pregnant pause filled the air. "In your opinion, Hana-chan," Sarutobi said, "what the hell does this all mean?"

She huffed. "Hokage-same," she said, "this isn't exactly unique. This bone structure, muscle structure…it looks almost exactly like an Inuzuka's internal body when they perform the Juujin Bunshin. Yes, there are some differences, but the key points are exactly the same." She sighed and slumped in her chair. "What happened to him to make him like this, Hokage-sama? You can trust me, especially with something like this, I promise."

Kakashi looked to Sarutobi, who nodded back at him. "Well," he said, "it all started early yesterday…" he then proceeded to tell her the whole story of what had happened to Naruto, from beginning to end, replaying almost exactly what Naruto had told him.

Tears began to fall from her eyes as Kakashi finished his tale. "Hana-chan, what is wrong?" asked the Hokage gently.

"Iruka…oh my god," she whispered. "Please tell me you're lying, Kakashi. Please tell me that. Please…"

A morose look fell on the barely-exposed face of Kakashi as he shut his eye. "No, I can't. To do otherwise would be a lie." After a moment he opened his remaining natural eye and examined her moistened face. "You loved him, didn't you?" he said.

The girl—for she truly was a girl now—nodded her head. "I was—no, I _do _love him," she said, a crack in her voice. "I first met him when I was in the academy, in my second year. He had been a Chuunin for a while, and was delivering a report to Suzume-san in the middle of kunoichi class. I don't know what it was about, but I fell in love right then and there." She wiped her eyes and looked at her two elders. "I know it sounds really stupid, but that's what happened.

"I graduated the academy as the top kunoichi and worked hard, as hard as I could to do my clan proud. I graduated early, and got put on a team with two older boys-- Hagane Kotetsu and Kamizuki Izumo. They had graduated the year before I did, but their former cell partner had died on a mission. Nonetheless, they accepted me, and when time came for us to take the Chuunin exam it was Iruka that met us at the tower in the middle of the Forest of Death.

"I was still infatuated with the man; I was thirteen at the time, young and stupid. He looked so handsome in his vest, with that dark skin and that scar…I was hopeless. I barely heard a word he said, I just couldn't get over him. He was at the third exam, cheering me on…and I passed that year. I, along with my teammates, became Chuunin that day, and stood as equals with him.

"Two years ago, he was out on a mission—a rarity, as he had been an instructor at the academy for a year by then. It didn't go well, and he had to be rushed to the hospital. He was in critical condition, and I was the only medic at hand—even if I was just a vet." The memory made her smile through the tears. "I patched him up as best I could at the time, good enough to wait until one of the other medics could come and take over. Imagine the look on his face when I told him as they were carrying him away that I worked with dogs and horses all day! I visited him later to see how he was doing, and he was doing well. I blurted out my feelings for him—I didn't know what I was doing, it was stupid and I was stupid but I didn't care, I loved him and I just _had _to tell him.

"He smiled and asked me out on a date, and I said yes…and we've been seeing each other since." Her face turned grave. "But that's over, isn't it? He's dead…and there's nothing I can do about it." A fresh deluge of tears began to form. "What do I do now, Hokage-sama? Who do I love?"

The Hokage left his chair to go over to the woman. He placed his hands softly on her shoulders as she looked up. He pulled her to her feet and embraced her, gently but firmly. "I'm so sorry, my dear," the wise old man said. "I know what it's like to lose a loved one like this. There is nothing in this life as painful as that. But the strongest of us must learn to live with the pain and press on, knowing that the ones gone before us would want that."

He turned his head to gaze at the sleeping boy behind him. "Learn to love that boy," he said. "Not like Iruka—_never _like Iruka. But if he's as similar to you as you say he is, watch over him. Give him a home if he needs one, give him a family if necessary. Let that be your memorial for the man you loved—protecting the boy he died to protect." He let go of the startled woman and cupped his face. "He's grown a lot faster than I had ever thought possible," he said, "but he is still just a boy. I knew long ago that he could become troubled if left alone, but he seemed to prefer a solitary lifestyle, so I left him be.

"But life's about to get a lot more interesting for him, and he needs a better place to live than that little apartment of his. Hana, do you think that you could take care of Naruto, along with your family? I know this is a lot to ask of you, especially at a time like this, but if he's with you and your family I am certain that he can be brought up right. He needs a home, but more than that he needs a family, and I think that you could provide that for him."

An astonished look was on Hana's face as the Sandaime made his request. Her…take care of the boy? She looked down on his sleeping face and studied it for a moment. He looked so innocent, so…childlike, with the sheet pulled up to his chin like that. She remembered her little brother, Kiba, when he was a child just a few years beforehand. She smiled at the thought of gaining a new little brother. Was it possible? Her mother, Tsume, had always spoken favorably of Naruto whenever the subject was brought up in her clan's compound, but would she be willing to take the boy in herself?

"I'd have to talk to my mother about it, Hokage-sama," she said. "If it were up to me, I'd say yes, but it isn't. If she approves, I'll be here first thing in the morning to take him home with me, but I can't make any promises on my own."

"I'll talk to Tsume tomorrow, Hokage-sama," said Kakashi. "I've known her for some time now; she'd listen to me."

Sarutobi nodded. "Do it together you two," he said, "and Kakashi, report to me whatever happens. But don't do it until after the Genin exams. If it goes well, talk to Tsume. If not…talk to her anyway. This could still be the best thing for him in the end."

Kakashi and Hana both nodded. The Hokage smiled at the pair, both of which looked exhausted. "Both of you go home and get some sleep. Hana, I'm ordering you to bed, and you're not to leave it until you're fully rested. Kakashi, I can't say the same thing to you, seeing as how you have to meet your Genin team tomorrow—it'll be a miracle if Naruto wakes up before then, so I'm going to ask you to have your exam a few hours later. Get a few hours sleep and go to your duties."

Hana nodded and, with a bow to the old man, left the room, mind weighted with so many thoughts. Kakashi, however, stayed in the room. "Is something wrong, Kakashi?" Sarutobi asked the young man.

"…About the test," Kakashi said. "I don't think that that's the best thing for Naruto right now. I was looking through academy logs the other day and noticed something very unusual: out of the twenty-seven students that graduated this year, more than one third of them belong to one of the noble clans of Konoha. In the class were some of the strongest candidates to come through the academy since…well since _I _graduated. Uchiha Sasuke, Nara Shikamaru, Hyuuga Hinata…it's quite an impressive list. Usually students are placed on teams that balance them out, but that's not always the case…"

"Oh? What are you planning, Kakashi?"

The Copy-nin outlined his idea to Sarutobi in quick details, drawing on things that he had read in the records of Konoha, both public and private. He mentioned some of the other students in Naruto's class, those that showed great potential and those that already were strong in their own ways. There were some that were in danger in their own ways…and some that just were dangerous to themselves.

After Kakashi finished his proposal to the Sandaime, the old man's face split into a craggy smile. "Kakashi, my boy," he said with more life in his voice than it had had all night, "I do believe you're a damn genius."

* * *

So, what did you think? I'll bet that none of you expected that to happen, now did you? But that's not all, much more to come up in later chapters. Also, the real story begins; this was all really just a prologue, hence the "Rising" part of each chapter title. This is where Naruto's life truly takes off, and who he is and what he will become gets more defined. I'll try to remain as true to the original story as possible, but as I told one angry guy who PM'd me (you know who you are) "this is a work of fiction that is based on a work of fiction that is itself based on _several _works of fiction." Just in case you didn't know, the manga Naruto is based on several Japanese folklores, including the tales of Jiraiya the Toad Master, Tsunade the Slug Master, and Orochimaru the Snake Master. Sasuke is also based on a character that, while not quite legendary in the sense Jiraiya and the others are, is a pretty big figure in Japanese stories everywhere. What, did you think it was a coincidence that there's so many ninja named Sasuke in anime and manga all over? Think again. 

Gotta thank "loki09 aka ttre208" (yes, that is his real birth name) for the translation for the Demonic Seal jutsu up near the top. Don't know if it's an accurate translation or not, but it sounds badass so that's good enough for me. Still need a full-time translator; I asked a couple other big-fic writers but haven't gotten a response back yet. Don't know if the dude's dead or what, to be honest. If you're interested in helping out—and are reliable—PM me and we'll work it out.

Listen, this may sound kinda stupid, but I got just about three or four reviews for the last chapter. Dumb as it sounds, that kinda depresses me a bit. I mean, a lot of you are paying attention to this thing (I've been put on the story alert for about fifty or sixty people so far). So why aren't you letting me know what you think? I lay awake at night hugging my teddy because you people don't love me anymore. sniff sniff The truth is, this takes a lot of my time throughout the week, just planning what I can and seeing how it all turns out, not to mention the time I spend just daydreaming and letting things come to me. I'm not going to abandon this any time soon, but if you guys could show a little bit more support I would appreciate it a lot.

One more thing: someone pointed out that adding the Snow or Waterfall arc in there somewhere could just be clogging up the chapters, and I have to say I agree. So, until further notice there will be no Snow or Waterfall special chapters. I'll stay with the canon as much as possible unless I get some reason to visit those places…which still may happen.

Well, hope you people liked what you saw. How long it takes for me to get the next chapter up and running really depends on whether or not I feel like it. If I don't think people want another chapter it could take as much as a month for another one to pop up.

Gotta go, got a planet to save and all. "BY YOUR POWERS COMBINED, I AM _CAPTAIN PLANET!!"_


	6. High Time

* * *

To all those that have just come to visit my fic, thanks for dropping by. I hope you've enjoyed yourself so far. And to those that have been reading along with this since the beginning or have favorited me as an author or just the story, thanks a bunch. I've thought a couple times about just dropping this, but I've just got too many ideas to do that. 

Before now, I've mostly just responded personally to the reviews if I felt like it, but that was too troublesome. So I've just decided that I'll do it at the top A/N from now on.

WolfLord04: Yes, I know I can be an "evil damn &$# #& $&$#$$#$" at times, but that's just the way I am.

Dameus: As you and others may have notice, I turned on the anon review option after I posted chapter 5. It just made sense; a lot of people with something to say don't have accounts, and I thought I'd give them a chance to tell me that I'm an "evil damn &$# #& $&$#$$#$" too. Also, this should satisfy all those wondering who the couples are. Thirdly, yeah, this is kinda dark, but I promise it lightens up later on. Just read the chapter, and I think you'll be satisfied.

blackcolt8: Sorry about the Hana bit. I wrote it really late at night, and I honestly don't remember putting it to computer. Truth is, I turned on the computer the next day, saw it, and thought _what the hell? _By then it was too late to rectify the damage, but it was done. I promise that it won't be something that has a big impact on the story…again, just read on. Third, Mizuki isn't finished with quite yet. Don't worry, I won't leave you hanging _too _long.

Darksnider05: Sorry, not big OOC stick for Hana…a _little bit _for Hinata, but I don't want to spoil anything for you.

Thales85: Glad you liked it.

Ryujin Kaze: See Thales85; he will get a summon and special weapon, but not for a while. Be patient, ok?

Chronostorm: See Thales85

Solar Guardian: This chapter should satisfy any questions you have about pairings. If not…something's wrong with you.

blackwolf0925: Naruto will learn kenjutsu (and I suppose iaijutsu[I do know the difference) and thanks for your loyalty.

Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

* * *

The morning came bright and early to Konoha, revealing nothing of the bloodshed of the previous night to the normal inhabitants of the village. To the man, woman and child, life went on as usual. Shop owners opened up their businesses, employees went to work, and shinobi reported for duty in their busy lives. 

That day was a special day for many of the children that had gone to the academy, as well. They were finally becoming Genin after all these years! Most of them were excited, but a few of them were nervous bordering on breakdown…the worst of them the heiress of the Hyuuga name, Hinata.

Long after she should have gotten out of bed she still lay there, sheets wrapped around her body tightly as if trying to hold her there in place against her will. Her dreams the night before had disturbed her greatly…even more so than usual. Instead of the recurring nightmare involving her father, her uncle, and her cousin, she dreamt of…

_Naruto,_ she thought to herself as a bird flew to her windowsill and peeked inside of it. _Oh, Naruto._ It had been a horrible dream…no, more like a nightmare. In it she watched as he battled for his life against impossible odds. Sometimes she imagined herself right alongside him, fighting with him, laughing with him, even sometimes…_loving _him. Her dreams often included the rebellious youth, much more lately than before. Ever since she knew the boy she had been having dreams for him, about him—

But last night's dream wasn't one of the good ones, not at all. It even paled the ones that had made her emotionally crippled for the rest of her life. In her dream, Naruto sat helplessly while someone precious to him died and he couldn't do anything about it. His hands ran red with blood…but she couldn't tell whose it was. It was just too horrible to watch, but watch she had to; no matter what she tried to do, she couldn't take her royal eyes away from the horror that had become of the boy that she had fallen in love with not too long before now.

The next images came fleetingly—a man being broken, a bright white light, and then…nothing. There was nothing but blackness as he slipped away from her…and she from him. She awoke in the middle of the night, the high position of the moon an indicator of the time, a sheen of fine sweat covering her entire body. She lay still; years of experience and conditioning forcing her to remain calm, despite how she may feel on the inside. And the inside was an exact opposite of her calm exterior, truth be told. If her inner self could be brought to the material world, she would be huddled in a corner by now, scared half to death and wishing she could just die.

She didn't return to sleep that night—it was impossible. After each and every nightmare that she could remember, she never remembered going back to sleep after waking up, and tonight was no different. She was used to being lonely, and tonight was no exception with just the moonlight and the darkness to keep her company. It hurt to be alone sometimes…no, if she was completely honest with herself, it hurt _all _the time. It felt like a physical grind inside her chest whenever she got that look from members of her family, even the branch members sometimes, the look that said "Just look at her. _She's _supposed to be the clan leader one day?" Nothing could sooth the hurt inside of her…

_Except for Naruto, _she though in the darkness. Ever since she could remember, he had been her light in the darkness, her talisman. When he was around her, nothing could go wrong, ever. He was perfect. In her lavender eyes, he could do no wrong. He was strong where she was weak, he was sun where she was shade, the yang to her yin. Whenever she was with him, even for a moment, everything was perfect…

Except for her. She wasn't even close to measuring up to him. He was brave; she was more timid than a mouse. He was strong; she couldn't beat her sister in a spar. He lit up any room he entered; merely was the shadow cast by his brilliance.

She loved Naruto…or at least thought she did. After all, who was she to know about love, when all she received from her family was a certain kind of repressed scorn, an attitude that she _knew _in her heart of hearts that she didn't deserve, but had anyway. No matter what she did to try to please her father, all she received from him was a thinly-veiled contempt. He even favored her sister, Hanabi, over her as the heir of the clan, that was no big secret. It was to her that he gave all of the special instruction, the extra training, the techniques that he hadn't even taught _her _yet.

That's not to say that Hinata _hated _Hanabi or anything…but a certain amount of bitterness did flow to her sister from Hinata. It wasn't _her_ fault she had these dreams, it wasn't _her_ fault that she had been almost kidnapped years beforehand, so why did her father hate her so? Why did he direct all of this loathing at the girl, and expect her to perform up to his expectations?

Did she deserve it?

Usually, secretly to herself, she said no.

But that whisper in the dark…the one that told her that she'd never be good enough for the boy she loved…gently tickled her ear with the answer that she feared most in her young life.

…_Yesss_

She cried until the tears wouldn't come anymore, until her naturally-pale eyes were streaked with red, then left her bed to get ready to face the rest of her life.

Little did she know that the fates were laughing their asses off at the unexpected turn of events that they had planned for the little lady.

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha rose silently from his bed, just as he always did, each and every single morning. Living in the Uchiha compound alone, with its dozens of buildings, had made him used to waking up by himself day after day like that. It had gotten to the point where he didn't even need an alarm to wake him up; if he told himself that he was getting up at seven o'clock, then by Kami he would be out of bed at seven oh one. Wordlessly he made his way to the shower in the bathroom juxtaposed to his own room—the room that had once been his parents'. Soon after they had been killed by his bastard of brother, he had moved into it, realizing that as the only Uchiha left in the village, he was the de facto leader of a clan of one. 

Without ceremony he walked into the shower and turned it onto his preferred temperature, ignoring the momentary difference between hot and cold. Unlike some idiots he knew, he didn't dance around and about when they got splashed with freezing water; the only evidence anybody could see (if they _had _been able to see him right then, he would have most likely killed them) of any discomfort was the light grinding of his jaw, clenched fists, and goose bumps running up and down his body.

He washed quickly but thoroughly, leaving no part of his body untouched. The dreams he had had the night before had left him feeling…tainted. They were confusing, to say the least. With all the blood, it reminded him so much of _that _night, but for some reason he knew that it wasn't about that at all. All he could think of that resembled it was a kind of…malevolent feeling. The flashes he remembered seemed familiar, like he should be able to easily remember them, and if he could just have a clue as to their identity he could easily piece the puzzle together. But the boy remained in the dark, and it was pissing him off to no end in sight.

He stepped out of the shower and quickly dried off and got dressed. Today, just as the day before and the day before that, he donned a navy-blue shirt with a high collar and the Uchiha crest on its back, the symbol of his clan. For years he had had these shirts custom-made, not only to tell anybody watching him that he was an Uchiha, but that the clan was still alive and well…even if he was the last one left that they could depend on. And they did depend on him; after all, wasn't it _his _ancestor that helped create the village of Konoha as they knew it? Wasn't it the Sharingan that let the shinobi of the village rise to such power and status? Wasn't it the Uchiha themselves that provided the backbone that they all leaned on so that they could live their lives in piece?

Of course it was. Since the founding of the village, it was the clan Uchiha that made life livable for the rest of the people within their village's walls. They needed the Uchiha, not just the name or the people, but the bloodline that flowed through his veins. Oh, sure, other clans could claim some of the same things that Sasuke did, but how many of them were there at the beginning? None of them, that's who. Their clans flocked to Konoha after the First Hokage and Madara Uchiha joined forces to create Konohagakure, but only after it was firmly established. The Hyuuga, the Akimichi, the Aburame, the Inuzuka…all of them paled in comparison to the royalty of the Uchiha.

And if he had to spend the rest of his life reminding him of that fact, he gladly would.

* * *

_Pant…pant…pant… _Naruto was running through the streets as fast as his damaged legs could carry him. Although making a miraculous recovery since Hana had last examined him, his assigned medic-nin still insisted that he remain in bed for _at least _another three to four hours before he became active. Of course, Naruto protested, but the medic was adamant, so Naruto went along with his order…until the medic left the room. Slipping into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt someone had brought him, he sneaked out the window, used chakra to slide down the wall to the ground, and ran like hell to his apartment. He was nearly a mile away before he heard the first indignant shouts from behind him. 

When he got to his apartment, he remembered with a start that the key to the place was still in his shorts…his _bloodstained _shorts, presumably still at the hospital. _Damn it! _he thought as he jiggled the handle uselessly. _Why do I have to be so paranoid?_ In the end, he had to resort of breaking a window and crawling in to get changed. _The landlord's gonna be sooo pissed,_ the blonde boy thought with glee. The old man that owned the apartment disliked Naruto to the extreme, for obvious reasons, and made life miserable in his own little ways whenever possible. However, the lease agreement stated that he had to make any and all repairs himself, on his own dime. Having Naruto as a tenant wasn't very good for his property, as no less than three rocks had been thrown through the windows in the past three years. _I'll just tell him it was someone else or something, _he thought to himself. _Not like he won't believe me._

He had run barefoot all the way to his place, was dirty, and felt like he deserved a nice hot bath. He was in the process of grabbing everything he would need—a change of clothes, deodorant, and his guilty pleasure, the rubber ducky—when he spied the time on the clock on his bedside table and nearly had a heart attack : 8:32 a.m. it read. _Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, _he thought as he turned the hot water on full blast and stripped himself of the loose garments. _I'm gonna be late!_ Without thinking, he ripped the shower curtain aside and leapt into the tub…

Where he was met by a jet of icy-cold water. He twitched bodily and lost his footing on the linoleum in shock as his body reacted negatively to the sudden change in temperature. He fell onto his ass and hit his head on the bathtub edge on the way down, knocking him loopy for a few minutes before he recovered.

_Not a good way to start the day,_ he thought.

* * *

He made it to the academy within five minutes of leaving the apartment, a personal best for the boy. Although he had to hurry, he still had a few minutes to spare once he arrived at the academy. He stopped outside of the room to catch his breath and give his aching muscles a rest; although they still hurt, the pain wasn't any more than a strenuous exercise could produce. He leaned up against the wall on the outside wall, hoping against hope that nobody would come out there that would drag him back to the hospital, but groaned at the very next person he saw. 

"Naruto, what the hell are you wearing?" asked a certain pink-haired kunoichi.

"Hey, Sakura," said Naruto. "Like the new look? Got it just yesterday. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but now I'm kinda having second thoughts." One of the ensembles that Naruto had purchased the day before now clothed the boy. It was a bright orange shirt with the Konoha Leaf symbol in green on the front with a whirlpool on the back in black, with black metal-studded shorts on under that. The baggy shirt looked like a tent on the boy, but that was the intent; despite it's size, it was still labeled as a child's medium. Standard shinobi sandaru covered his feet, so he wasn't _totally _out of character…but that much orange still was an eyeful.

She snorted. "Like it? Get real, Naruto," she said, not maliciously, but seriously. "It makes you look like a total idiot, all of that orange at once. What were you thinking buying that? It's…a lot _different _from what you usually wear."

Naruto grinned widely at Sakura. "Yeah, I know," he said, his smile infectious. "Isn't it great?" She just walked away with a smile on her face, shaking her head. She didn't really like Naruto…but she didn't _hate _him either. She was one of the few that understood that he wasn't really a demon, but he still annoyed her sometimes. She had, however, defended him on occasion, especially whenever she heard her parents talking about him whenever they thought that she couldn't hear…especially in the past year.

She walked past him into the classroom, Naruto right behind her. It amused him to notice that Sasuke was sitting all by himself, without any of his groupies crowding around him as usual. _Heh heh…I guess whatever the fox did yesterday is still in effect. Hope he's happy._ But happy or sad, emotions never showed on the raven-haired boy's face. He just sat there as always, chin rested on his hands, looking lost in thought.

Naruto sat down next to the Uchiha, right in the middle of the row that Sasuke occupied. Naruto sat to his right, with an empty seat on the other side of him. The last of the academy graduates were trickling into the room, with Hinata the very last of them all.

* * *

_Naruto,_ thought the Hyuuga heiress, a feeling inside of her stirring, a sensation that she was so familiar with. Every time she saw the boy, butterflies tumbled around inside of her stomach and her chest tightened just a little bit. There were so many things that she wanted to say to the boy, so many thanks she wanted to give to him…but every time she saw him, it was all that she could do not to just pass out in a dangerous combination of love, fear, trepidation, and anxiety. That she could be in the same room with him without turning into a nervous wreck was, she thought, a minor miracle, but when she found herself sitting next to him the day before, she was right on the edge of fainting. 

_I…hope everything's all right,_ she thought. _He looks so troubled and…he looks just like Sasuke-kun. _It was true; the pose that the resident avenger had made into a trademark was being copied right along by Naruto. He even had the same expression on his face, a stoic "don't piss me off or you'll regret it" kind of thing. It scared her a little bit—she had never seen him look so _serious _before.

She went to sit at her regular seat near the top of the classroom, but was intercepted by none other than Ino Yamanaka. "What's up, Hinata?" asked the long-haired blonde. "Are you okay? You look a little pale…more than usual, anyway. Is something wrong?" When Hinata looked down and poked her fingers together, a triumphant look appeared on Ino's face. "I know that look, Hinata!" she crowed. "You're still in l—"

Her words were smothered by Hinata's hand as it pressed against her mouth. "Ino, please! N- not so loudly, okay? He's _right there._"

Ino's eyes went wide. "So you haven't told him yet?" she asked Hinata. "Hinata, honestly, when are you gonna tell him? I mean, I don't really like him…but he _is _kinda cute. If I wasn't gonna marry Sasuke-kun one day, I just might have gone after him myself." A look of terror sprang up on Hinata's face, making the Yamanaka burst out into a little laugh. "I'm just kidding, Hinata, I'm just kidding," she said with a hand over her mouth. "But seriously, you have to tell him one of these days, before somebody _else _grabs him up."

Hinata just turned her eyes to the ground. "I- I'm not brave like you, Ino-chan," she said. "I just can't go up to someone and say 'I l-love you' like you do with Sasuke. If he hates me, w-what then? I would…just hate myself even more." The Hyuuga girl walked away from Ino, who looked concerned for her friend.

_Poor girl,_ she thought as she sat next to one of the other graduates near the top. _I wish there was something I could do to help._ She looked down the room at Naruto and Sasuke, who had struck up a light conversation. She laughed for a second once she actually registered Naruto's garb. "Wow," she said softly. "Orange…really works on him." It was then that she noticed the empty seat next to Naruto. She looked up at Hinata who was, as usual, trying not to attract attention.

_Wait a moment…maybe I _can _be of some help to her._ She quickly plotted out a plan in her mind. Nodding resolutely, she went over to her childhood friend and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey Shikamaru, do me a favor, ok?"

The lazy boy groaned. "What is it this time, Ino?" he asked.

She turned to Hinata and put her hands together in a seal. "Take care of my body for a few minutes." Under her breath she mumbled **"****Shintenshin no Jutsu!" **and collapsed into Shikamaru's protesting arms. "Hey!" he shouted at her vacated body. "Not again!"

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke were talking sporadically amongst themselves while the rest of the class just made a ruckus. Yes, there was leave for first-time jitters, but most of the others just _couldn't shut up,_ and it was getting on both orphans' nerves. Naruto asked who he hoped his partner was, but Sasuke said it didn't matter—whoever it was would just get in his way. 

"But," he said unexpectedly a few moments later on, "if I had to choose anybody to partner up with…" He cast a sidelong glance at Naruto. "…you wouldn't be so bad, I guess."

Naruto grinned at that proclamation. The great Uchiha saying he wouldn't mind working with him? He felt positively…_fuzzy _inside.

"Oh, I don't know," said Naruto in a serious tone. "I kinda got my own thing to do, really, and you would just drag me down a bit too much to get any headway done. I'm probably better off without you, when it all comes down to it."

The look on the Uchiha's face was priceless. Naruto wished that he had a camera with him, but alas, it wasn't to be. "You—headway—drag down—_what the hell?!_" he sputtered. His face turned red as Naruto burst out laughing and he realized that he had just had one pulled on him. Although it had been a while since he had been a regular prankster, he still knew how to push people's buttons.

Sasuke was about to go off on Naruto when he noticed someone over Naruto's shoulder. It was Hinata, the other doujutsu user in the class…the only one of the two that could actually _use _their inherited gift, to his utter frustration. Noticing Sasuke's gaze, Naruto turned around to see what was going on behind him. "Oh, hi, Hinata," he said. Something on her face looked…different than usual. Like she was more confident or something.

She wedged herself between the desk and the short wall behind it and scooted down to where Naruto was sitting, putting just inches between the two. "Um, hey, what're you doing?" Naruto asked her as she pressed herself against him and grabbed his face with both hands. Her cheeks were tinged just a little bit red, but her face was resolute: with total conviction, she pressed her lips to the paralyzed boy, kissing him long, hard, and deep.

* * *

_My work here is done,_ thought Ino as she took her "first kiss" with Naruto…although she didn't know if it counted if she wasn't in her own body. Nonetheless, it wasn't unpleasant, as she thought it would be, but…nice. Really, really nice. His mouth was warm and a little bit wet, and his teeth were kind of sharp on "her" exploring tongue as it slipped into it— 

_I didn't mean to do that! _she realized as she caught herself flicking his canines with the tip of her tongue. She pulled her tongue away while keeping their lips together and mentally shouted out the release for the jutsu. _I really hope she appreciates this, _she thought as her soul floated back to her body, which was in the hands of a shocked Shikamaru. Groaning as she sat back up, she asked the boy with a cheeky smile and a wink, "Tell me the truth; am I good, or am I good?"

Hinata watched helplessly as she felt her body come under control of her friend, Ino. She recognized the feeling of her body being taken over, having been the victim of the technique several times over the years in practice. _Ino, what are you doing?! _Hinata mentally shouted at her friend.

She felt, rather than saw, her friend grin evilly inside of her. _Oh, just giving your life a little bit of a kick-start, my dear. No need to thank me, just doing what any friend would do._

_I'm not going to thank you! Get out of my head this instant or I'll…wait, what are you doing? Why are you walking over to Naruto-kun? Why are you…NO! Ino, don't you dare you—_

Whatever else she was about to "say" to her friend was drowned out the instant her lips touched Naruto's. The physical shock that went through her overrode any thought she had in her shared mind. This was the moment she had been dreaming of for _years _now…granted, it wasn't exactly the circumstances that she had always imagined—romantic dinner, long walk, heart-felt speeches professing love…but here it was, nonetheless. She was kissing Naruto-kun—and he was kissing her back!

_Oh…my…god…_slowly thought Hinata as she felt Ino delve her tongue into Naruto's mouth. Even though she wasn't in the driver's seat, she still felt _everything _that happened to her body…and quite a few things were going on in there—and _down _there.

Then she realized that it wasn't exactly _her _that was kissing Naruto as her tongue flicked Naruto's teeth. She moaned inside of her head with longing; that was supposed to be _her _kissing Naruto, not Ino! Well, it was _her, _but it wasn't _her._

_Get out of my head, Ino! _cried Hinata. _Stop this!_

Ino chuckled darkly at Hinata. _Ok…but are you sure _you wanna _stop? _replied the long-haired blonde as her soul trickled away from Hinata's mind, and with that last thought, she was gone.

* * *

Naruto was startled, to say the least, when Hinata kissed him so suddenly like that. That thing she did with her tongue—he would _never _expect her to be so bold as that, especially in the middle of a room full of people they both knew! He didn't know what had gotten into the normally-shy girl…but he liked it. 

_Oh yeah, _he liked it.

He felt her body spasm a few seconds after she lapped at his tooth—and then was further surprised when she renewed her oral assault on him as she pressed her body more firmly against his, actually becoming too much for him to support and forcing him backwards. If he didn't move as quickly as he did, Naruto's head would have wound up squarely in Sasuke's lap, and _that _would have been a _much _more embarrassing situation than the one he currently found himself in.

_Or maybe not, _as he realized when the entire class was staring open-mouthed at the pair, Sasuke included, with the Hyuuga heiress practically laying flat on top of him, attacking his mouth with hers. Granted, it was a very…pleasant attack to say the least, but he was afraid of the mountain-sized libido of the Kyuubi kicking in at any time now. When Hinata finally pulled her lips away from his (they both had to breathe, after all), all Naruto could say was a simple "Wow."

"Get a room!" one of the other students yelled from the back of the class, effectively breaking the mood between the two. Hinata made a sound that was something like a cross between a mouse squeaking and a squeaky door opening as she bounced off of Naruto and scooted to the end of the row faster than anybody could track with the naked eye. Her face looked like nothing so much as a ripened tomato, it was so red, and Naruto's wasn't that much far behind. Everybody started laughing at them, even Sasuke, with not a few catcalls and wolf whistles reverberating about the room.

Hinata looked more than a little flustered, falling into her normal default when faced with a crisis: looking down at the ground, avoiding eye contact, and poking her forefingers together repeatedly. A film of sweat began to form over every visible surface of her skin as public scrutiny began to come toward her and Naruto. Some of the boys were congratulating Naruto on kissing what most considered the hottest girl in the class, while the girls gathered around Hinata to try to figure out what in the hell was she thinking…not in a bad way, of course, but why in front of so many people?

The mob was interrupted by the opening of the door at the front of the classroom. Somewhere in the back of his mind he realized that it was some time past nine o'clock and the instructor was just getting there, but the vast majority of his mind was processing what had happened just a moment ago. Even while the academy sensei—a woman named Suzume Namida, a kunoichi instructor—started talking about how this was the next step to the rest of their lives, his brain was scrambling to burn into his mind every memory of that…well, it _could _be called a kiss, but many would say that it went _far _beyond an ordinary kiss. It was more an act of passion, with more heart and soul put into the contact than anything he had ever experienced before.

With a start he realized that she was announcing teams already he snapped to attention. Just how stupid would it be to miss who you're team was all because you were distracted by a kiss?

…But boy, what a kiss!

"And now for Cell 7," Suzume was saying. "It will consist of Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto," she flipped to the next page and scrunched up her eyes. Naruto chuckled to himself; guess he _was _on Naruto's team after all.

"Try not to slow me down, dobe," Sasuke said to Naruto, but not maliciously.

"Same to you, teme," Naruto shot back. As long as his other partner wasn't someone like Sakura, or Ino, or…

"...and Hyuuga Hinata," finished Suzume. The entire class was silent for a moment as the realization that the two that had just had a hot, steamy kiss in front of twenty-five of their classmates just hit home…and in the long silence, Hinata Hyuuga, for the fifth time that month in class, fainted and fell to the floor.

* * *

_Mmm…that feels good,_ Hinata disjointedly though as something cool was pressed against her face. A trickle of water made its way into her eyes, making her blink—and realizing for the first time that her head was in the lap of the boy she was most in love with. 

Naruto was cradling her head on his thighs with a towel acting as a pillow. It had been a particularly nasty fall for the girl, and he was actually concerned for the girl. She had hit her forehead against the desk on her way to the floor, and what promised to be a nice bump on the head was beginning to form. He had quickly called for someone to go and get some cold water from the staff kitchen and a towel and washcloth from the supply room. The items were retrieved, and Suzume quickly read off all of the other teams and told them to disperse and meet back in the room in two hours to meet with their Jounin-sensei in charge of their cell.

Hinata looked straight up from her position directly into the cerulean orbs of her beloved and gasped. His face was so…_gentle_, so…_tender_. The look of concern he had for her was plastered across him, a genuine worry. She shivered—not with worry or nervousness, but due to the trickles of cold water running down the collar of her shirt. "Hey there," he said softly as he soaked the rag in a bowl of icy water at his side, wrung it out, and placed it on her forehead. "How you feeling?"

She managed a smile at her caretaker. "I'm…fine. Just fine." She groaned as she stirred her head and felt where she had made contact with the desk.

"Whoa there," Naruto said, cupping a cheek lightly to steady her. "That was a pretty hard hit you took there—I wouldn't try moving for a few more minutes until you wake up a bit more."

She groaned as she actually began to feel the bump on her head. "H-how long…"

"About half an hour," said Naruto as he pressed the cold washcloth a bit more firmly against her head. Hinata shivered again—but this time from something a little bit more than cold water. Naruto, _her _Naruto, was taking care of her, was holding her closely, was _tending _to her needs so affectionately…it was everything she had ever dreamed of, and more. She smiled, a deep, calm smile; for the first time in a good while, she felt—no, not content.

Hinata was purely happy.

"Where's Sasuke?" she asked after a few minutes.

Naruto snorted. "He left a while ago; something about wanting to give us a little 'privacy'. He'll be back with all the others later, but that won't be for more than an hour or so. Until then…" He shrugged. "Just try to relax, okay? I don't want you getting hurt any more, and if you stand up or sit up too fast you could get nauseous. You don't wanna get sick or anything, do you?"

She smiled faintly at that. No, that would not be very good for their…did they have a relationship? Hinata's heart began to beat _much _faster than it had before. Was there something between the two? Did Naruto feel anything for her? Or had he reacted as he did automatically as any boy would when put in that sort of situation? Yes, he _did _return the kiss that Ino had forced on him…_and _when Hinata pressed the issue herself…but did he have any feelings for her at all?

"N-Naruto," she stammered. "I'm s-sorry about earlier. I just d-don't know what came over me. I j-just _did _it and I don't know what was going on and something came over me—" Boy, was _that _the truth! "and I just did it, and it felt so good and your lips were so warm and soft and I've loved you ever since I met you and I'm so so so sorry I did that to you and I promise it'll never happen again and I—" She realized what she had just confessed to him with wide, shocked eyes. Surprised that she would even _think _something like that, much less _say _it, Naruto didn't stop her when she abruptly stood up to try to walk away from him. She stood erect for a few seconds…and then fell promptly down again in a dizzy spell into Naruto's open arms.

"Steady there, steady, Hinata," Naruto said soothingly as he settled the two of them down on the bench. He sat down and set Hinata up next to him, with her leaning heavily on him. He grabbed the cold washcloth, dipped it once again in the water, squeezed it, and pressed it against her head. "What are you sorry for?" he asked as he wrapped an arm around her to get a better angle on the head. "The kiss?" He chuckled lightly as Hinata blushed. "Truth be told…I didn't exactly hate it, you know. Best kiss I've ever had, really."

The blood ran cold in Hinata's veins. "B-best kiss?" she stuttered. "You m-mean—"

"Don't worry," said Naruto with a laugh. "It was the first one, too."

Hinata felt twenty pounds lighter instantly. _His first kiss! _she mentally exclaimed. _I got his first kiss! And he mine!_ She began breathing faster, her heart beat faster, her pulse pounded throughout her body so loudly she _knew _Naruto had to hear it from this closely but she didn't care because _he liked the kiss!_ This had to be the best moment of her life, easily.

"Did you mean that?" Naruto asked her, bringing her out of her daze.

"M-mean what?" she replied.

"That you've loved me ever since you've known me," said Naruto, with an unusually serious look on his face.

Hinata turned to face Naruto, the washcloth slipping off unnoticed by either of them. "Yes," she breathed. "Since the moment I saw you. You always seemed so strong, so sure of yourself. You were your own person, nobody trying to make you someone you weren't. You were so…_perfect._ I don't—I don't know how else to put it. You were so kind, so decent, even to those who weren't to you. You always were the person I wanted to be…but never had the courage to attempt to be." She shook her head slowly. "I must seem silly, huh?"

A bemused look came over Naruto. "No, not at all. But all this time I thought you were afraid of me or something—more than usual in the past few months for some reason." Once again, horror gripped Hinata's heart as she realized why he thought she had been acting more odd than usual lately.

"N-Naruto," she said softly. "A few months ago…my sister was attacked by someone, and she told me, and only me about it. She told me about how she was chased after she went for a walk…and how she was saved…by _you._"

Sudden realization dawned on Naruto's face. "You mean…she was awake the _whole time?!_" Naruto cried out.

"Not…the whole time, no," Hinata replied. "But j-just long enough to know that it was _you _that rescued her and killed the other ninja. That _did _make me afraid of you for a little bit…but my love grew even stronger after that. What people say about you isn't true; I knew this a long time ago, but that reconfirmed what my heart already knew—t-that you weren't a monster, but a good person. If you were a monster, or if you really _were _the demon Kyuubi shaped like Naruto, you would have just let that man get her…instead, you proved to the world…or just to _me…_that you're a good man."

Naruto's face flushed in embarrassment. "I don't know about that," he said. "I just did what anybody would do in that sort of situation, really."

Hinata shook her head. "I don't care," she said. "You proved yourself to me…and you earned my love." She paused for a moment. "Wow," she said. "That sounded like a line out of a bad romance novel, didn't it?"

Naruto laughed aloud; it was a nice sound to Hinata's ears. "Yeah, it did," he said, "but I don't think I really minded it all that much."

"So, what now?" Naruto asked after a long pause. "Everybody saw you kiss me—it's not like it'll be a big secret for very long. You say you love me, and I believe you. Honestly, I don't know what _I _think right now…but what do you say we just see what happens from here on in and just ride it out?"

Hinata snuggled in closer to Naruto, who wrapped his arm around her shoulders tighter and pulled her in. They just marveled in each other's warmth, reveled in the contact they shared with each other. They both knew that things could get complicated somewhere down the line…especially when news of the event reached her father…but they didn't care. For now, they had each other, and that was all that mattered. "That's fine with me," Hinata whispered as the warmth of Naruto's body lulled her into an easy slumber, made all the easier by the lack of rest she had gotten the night before. "That's just…fine…with…me."

She fell asleep against Naruto's chest, shifting closer in her unconsciousness. _She looks so beautiful, _Naruto thought as he just sat there, hoping not to do anything to wake her up from her sleep. _I hope we could make this work…she loves me…the first one ever to love me. Could I love her? Do I have the _right _to love her? I could hurt her somehow…but she knows that, and she loves me anyway. Is that what love is? Caring for someone despite all the things that could go wrong? If so…_

_I could fall in love with this girl.

* * *

_

The rest of the class arrived back at the classroom by the prescribed time, including Sasuke. As they trickled into the class in groups of two or three, mostly with their members of their cell, they noticed Naruto and Hinata sitting together right where they had been before they left. Of course, this got many of them talking and pointing, but most of them stopped when they got a stare from Sasuke, who most definitely did _not _want anybody pointing in his general direction. Sasuke sat down where he had been before he left, to Naruto's left. If he was going to be spending all this time with them…he might as well start off by sitting with them in the classroom while waiting for their sensei.

One by one Jounin began arriving in the classroom and called out to their students. Over the next half hour, the room steadily emptied as cells left the room. Naruto recognized a few of them—Sarutobi Asuma, estranged son of the Hokage, Yamashiro Aoba, a Tokubetsu Jounin, and Yuuhi Kurenai, the village's genjutsu mistress.

They all left the room until it was just Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata left. They remained silent and still, with the occasional bodily shift being the only movement in the room. It was a comfortable silence, for the most part, although Naruto was becoming increasingly agitated as to the absence of anybody coming to retrieve them.

Hinata didn't care _when _their sensei came; the longer she could stay with Naruto like this, just quietly sitting next to him and feeling his presence was enough, no, _more _than enough. She loved him, and she was with him, and _he _was with _her,_ and that was all that mattered.

"Okay, where the hell is this guy!" Naruto shouted after sitting there for over an hour after the last of the other students left with nothing happening at all. "Who's the idiot that's supposed to be coming to pick us up? How could somebody be a Jounin and be this late?" He got up and went to the chalkboard and grabbed the eraser. "This'll teach him," he said as he went to the sliding door, opened it up slightly, and put the eraser in between the doorframe and the door. He shut the door just enough to hold the eraser in place and took his place between Hinata and Sasuke, both of which were giving him bemused looks.

"What?" he said to them. "If he's gonna be late all the time, this is what he gets!" He crossed his arms and jutted his jaw. Sasuke just rolled his eyes and sat back in his seat, while Hinata couldn't stifle a grin forming on her face.

"What kind of Jounin would he be if he got caught in that lame a booby-trap?" asked Sasuke. "He's _gotta _be better than that…" But his words were cut short just as the door slid open and the eraser fell onto the head of the man who stuck his head inside.

"Yeah! Score on you, uh…" Naruto felt a feeling of dread that just seemed different than anything he had felt before. Yes, he had been afraid for his life several times before, and had had that creepy "cold chill" feeling before…but nothing in his life could compare to the dread he felt right then. "Kakashi…sensei…"

The masked man walked into the room and dusted off the chalk that had collected in his hair. "Well…hmm…how can I say this? My first impression is…_I don't like you. _Meet me on the roof in five minutes." Just like that, he vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Nice going, dobe," Sasuke said as he walked down the steps toward the hallway. "Try not to make him want to kill us, okay?" As he walked out the door, he flicked the eraser at Naruto's head with his toe. Naruto caught it, and tossed it back to the board—where it landed perfectly in place, right where he had taken it.

"Come on, Hinata-chan," Naruto said as he grabbed her hand. "We don't want to keep him waiting, do we?"

"N-no," she stammered as she was lead away from the classroom for the last time. "We don't." The smile on her face said it all: wherever Naruto was, that was the perfect place to be.

The trio found Kakashi sitting on the railing of the roof in a kind of courtyard built roughly twenty years beforehand for teachers to go to during breaks. A half-dozen trees lined the rooftop in two rows of three, leading on out to a balcony of sorts. The sun was shining, but the sky was half-covered with big fluffy clouds trawling across it. Every few minutes the sun would be blocked by a cloud, only to reappear once the offending cumulus moved on its way. "Sit down," he said, pointing to the steps that were before him. They did, eyeing him suspiciously. To the person, they were wondering whether he was going to do something to them in retaliation for Naruto's little prank. The didn't have to worry, however, as a smile shone in his eyes.

"Well, let's begin by introducing ourselves," he said lightly. "We'll start with you," he said, pointing at Sasuke. "Your likes and dislikes…your dreams, and things like that."

"Why don't you start us off, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked cheekily. "That way we'll know what we gotta do!"

The man rubbed chin and tilted his head. "Oh…me? Well, my name is Hatake Kakashi…I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes…dreams for the future…hmm…and I have a lot of hobbies…" He trailed off, clearly done with his short speech.

"For crying out loud!" Naruto said to Hinata. "All he really told us was his name!"

"Your turn," he said to Sasuke, who glowered at the man.

Sasuke sat there for a minute, fingers clasped and eyes down. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke," he said. "There are lots of things I dislike and I don't really like anything at all. I don't have a dream…but an ambition. The resurrection of my clan and…to kill a certain man." Quick and to the point, just like Kakashi. The older man's face was unreadable as he studied the boy, but broke the silence by indicating to Hinata to say her piece.

"My name is Hyuuga Hinata…I like…flower pressing and…" she cast a sideways glance at Naruto for a moment. "I d-dislike people who make fun of others for no reason, or things beyond their control…my dream for the future is to make my clan proud of me…I don't have a lot of hobbies…I'm not really that good at anything. I spend most of my free time training, but…" She looked down at the ground and started poking her fingers together again, a sure sign of nervousness.

"Oookay," Kakashi said a moment after she stopped. "Your turn, kid," he said, pointing to Naruto.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto!" the boy exclaimed. "I like ramen from old man Ichiraku's place, training, and beating up people I don't like! I dislike people who make me mad, and people who want to hurt other people for no reason at all. I have a few dreams…but they would make most people scared out of their pants if they knew what they were. Hobbies…I guess I like training and learning new jutsu or improving them, and watering my plant." He looked at his teammates deadpan expressions. "What? Can't I have a normal hobby like everyone else?"

"Oookay," Kakashi said again after a minute. "Now that we all know each other a bit better, let's get to work. You have your first mission all set up for you already."

_That _got their attention. "A mission? Already?" asked Sasuke. "And what exactly is this mission?"

Kakashi eye-smiled again, but his attitude changed drastically when he appeared right in front of Hinata and grabbed the collars of Sasuke's and Naruto's shirts and pulled them roughly to him, so that their heads were all inches from each other. "Number one: don't say another _word _until I personally give you authorization. Period. Second, this is not a test, this is not a drill. This is gravely serious. Mistakes cannot be made at this point. Third, you are to follow my orders to the _letter _and not deviate one step, nod if you understand me _now._" The three were too shocked to do anything _but _nod at their sensei. "Good. When I leave, go back into the academy and find some place to hide. Henge into the most nondescript person you can think of, wait about ten minutes, and leave the academy. Take care that you all leave from separate exits, or else this would have all been for nothing.

"Walk toward the Hokage tower, but don't make a beeline; take a circuitous route, separately. Enter the tower, go past the administrative desks, and go down the hallway where business personnel work. If anybody stops you, just say one word: sparrow. They'll know what it means, and leave you alone. Find the door that marks the Hokage's office, and enter the door to the right of it. Go up the stairway, knock twice, then three times, then once. The door will open, and you'll receive further instructions then. Understood?" The three of them nodded in synch. "Good. Go!" He vanished—again—leaving three very confused Genin in his wake.

Naruto held a finger to his lips, an indicator that they shouldn't say anything, on the off-chance that Kakashi was still watching them. They went through the door that lead back down to the academy proper, passing several empty rooms once they hit bottom. Sasuke tapped Naruto and Hinata on the shoulders, indicating that he was going into one of them. He then jerked a finger at Naruto and pointed to the roof exit that they had just taken, indicating that Naruto should go out that way. Naruto nodded, agreeing with Sasuke. Sasuke pointed at himself, then northward, telling the other two which way he was going, then Hinata, then south to the back way. She agreed as well with her own nod, and the raven-haired Uchiha left the other two for the privacy of his own room.

Naruto and Hinata walked together for a minute until they turned into a classroom nearly identical to their own. They both wordlessly did the Henge no Jutsu, Hinata turning into a plain-looking girl about her age with a grey shirt and black hair, Naruto into an older-looking boy with straw-colored hair dressed all in light brown. They nodded at each other, then smiled. They left the room and Naruto turned to go his own way when Hinata grabbed his shoulder and turned him around. Surprised, he stopped, casting a curious look at the girl that looked nothing like the girl he knew was under the illusion. She stood up on her tip-toes (he was a good deal taller than she due to the henge), grabbed his face, and gave him a quick but thorough kiss, reaching deeper into his mouth than she had before. She broke it off, and just like that she was running down the hall toward her appointed exit, leaving Naruto wondering just how much she was going to do that before she was done—and hoping that she wouldn't be finished any time soon.

* * *

Naruto made his way to the Hokage tower without incident. Seeing as the face he wore was entirely of his own creation, nobody stopped him or talked to him. His route to the Hokage's tower was indeed indirect, but coincidentally it took him past the Ichiraku. He was sorely tempted to stop there for a quick bowl of ramen (as he didn't have time to eat during the morning at the hospital) but time was of the essence, or so he believed, and went right past it, its proprietor being none the wiser to the passing of his favorite client. 

He entered into the main foyer of the tower, the only area open to public access. He spotted a door leading to the inner workings of the building and headed straight toward it. The Chuunin at the desks spotted him, but didn't stop him; people of all types came and went through that door every day, and if he wasn't supposed to be there…well, the secretaries were some of the scariest women he had _ever _seen. Let them handle the dirty work…while he filed assassination requests.

Naruto passed through a large room with about twenty desks stacked with papers and scrolls, each one occupied by a woman, or more rarely a man. One looked like she was going to get up to stop him, but Naruto spared her the trouble and steered himself over toward her desk. "Sparrow," he said in a low tone before she could rise. Realization dawned on her and she nodded to him, jerking her head toward a hallway the way Naruto had already been heading. Nodding his head in thanks, he made his way toward it, not looking back.

It wasn't a long hallway, and he easily found the door with an obvious nameplate—the symbol for "fire" was emblazoned onto it in bright red…with a nondescript door perpendicular to it on the side of the hallway. He entered through that door, leaving the obvious one alone, and walked up a circular flight of stairs. Once he had gone up about fifty or so, he ran into another door. As ordered, he knocked twice, paused, three times, paused again, then once. The door opened, admitting Naruto to a room full of people, some he knew and some he didn't.

Sasuke and Hinata were already there, along with Kakashi and, more surprisingly, Mitarashi Anko. "It's about damn time, kid," she said, a dango stick sticking out of her mouth. "We've been waiting forever!" Naruto dropped the henge as he walked into the room.

"It hasn't been _that _long, Anko," said a hard-looking woman with a particularly vicious-looking dog at her side with an eye-patch on it. "Hinata just got here about ten minutes ago, and Sasuke not long before that." With the red tattoo marks on her face and the dog, she had to be an Inuzuka. Naruto vaguely remembered her from the academy; maybe she was Kiba's mom?

Besides her, there were two other people there that he didn't know; a tall man in a trench coat with scars running all across his face and a shorter man in a green bodysuit with orange legwarmers. "Ah, Naruto," said the Hokage, who had just entered the room from another door. "You're here. Now we can get to work, finally." He turned and returned to the room that he had just come from. Naruto, Hinata, and Sasuke were herded into the room right behind him with all of the other shinobi behind _them_.

The room was occupied by nothing more than a few chairs in the corner and a half-dozen along the opposite wall. It was a small room, so the nine of them had a fairly snug fit in there. They all took a seat, Cell 7 in the seats meant for them and the rest of the odd-looking bunch in the chairs opposite them. "Would somebody tell us what all the cloak-and-dagger stuff is all about?" Sasuke said as he crossed his arms. "Hinata and I were in there for a while, and nobody would tell us _anything._

"Yeah!" agreed Naruto. "This all just seems kinda shady to me. What the hell's going on around here? I thought we were going on a mission or something, but all that's here is an empty room and a bunch of ninja we don't even know!"

"Silence, Naruto," said the Sandaime, stifling the next words to come out of Naruto's mouth. "There is a reason you're here; otherwise you wouldn't be here. There was a reason for the secrecy, or else you would have been instructed to come right here." His face instantly took an expression that could even make the Kyuubi hesitate. "And there was a reason," he said acidly, "that you were told not to speak until Kakashi gave you permission to do so."

Sasuke and Naruto both realized that Kakashi hadn't, in fact, given them permission to speak yet. And the Hokage, while usually a kind and affable man, didn't gain the position of Hokage for nothing. A good leader has to be kind…but kindness and personality would get you nowhere without the strength and will to back up every ounce of respect earned. Naruto didn't say anything more, just sat back in his chair and hoped that the old man wasn't mad enough at him to do something a bit more damaging than a sharp tongue-lashing.

"You need to learn to follow orders a bit more thoroughly, Naruto," he continued in a less-acidic tone. "For instance, you were told by your med-nin Iashi-san to stay in your room this morning, were you not? Now that you are a shinobi of the Leaf, you must obey all orders given to you by a superior, even when that person isn't a commanding officer. As a medic-nin, Iashi has authority over _all _personnel not directly his superior inside of the hospital. Let me make one thing clear: the penalty for insubordination in Konoha is stiff, and it will not be tolerated again. Your health is not something to trifle with, young man, yours especially. If you disobey a medical officer again when inside of the hospital, you will be brought up on treason charges—_is that clear?"_

Naruto began to speak—but quickly realized that Kakashi hadn't given him permission to yet. He looked at his sensei, who eye-smiled at the boy and nodded his acquiescence. "Understood, Hokage-sama," he answered. "I swear to you, I'll never disobey you or anybody in command of me ever again."

The old man smiled slightly. "That's a dangerous oath to make, Naruto. Let me tell you something important…sometimes the orders from your superiors aren't always the orders you should follow. If your squad leader told you to kill your comrade, do you think that you could do it?"

Naruto looked first at Hinata, to his left, then to his right at Sasuke. "Not a chance," Naruto said.

"But what if they were traitors to the Leaf?" said Sarutobi.

"Well…I don't know. I guess it depends on what they did."

The Sandaime continued, "But what if your squad leader just _told _you that your comrade was a traitor and that you should kill them? Do you think that you could kill him or her then?"

Naruto opened his mouth to reply, then shut it. How to reply to a question like that? "I'm…I don't know, Hokage-sama. I just don't know what I would do. I want to say that I would do what my leader told me to do, but I've never been in a situation like that, and I hope never to. I've never had a comrade betray me…" Even as he spoke those words he recalled his fight with Mizuki the night before…had it really been no more than half a day gone by? "…but I would hope that anybody I am partnered with would remain loyal to Konoha."

Sarutobi nodded at his reply. "I'll hope so as well, Naruto. Just because someone is of a higher rank than you doesn't mean that they're always right. Personal judgment, more than blind loyalty, is the most important tool for a shinobi to have.

"Now, onto the reason why you three are here, and why we had you come in secrecy. Simply put, Konoha has an opportunity of the like right now that hasn't been presented to it in over thirty years." He pulled out his pipe and lit it, enjoying the smoke as it filled his lungs. "Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata—the three of you are in a position that, quite frankly, has a plethora of possibilities before it. Each one of you is unique, in that untold potential lays before you, but certain circumstances prevent you from achieving everything possible at the moment."

"What exactly do you mean, Hokage-sama?" asked Naruto.

"Well…let's take our young Hyuuga here for instance, shall we? Talented as she is, she lives in a home where the mental abuse she receives from her father blocks her from gaining any real strides in her development. Oh, don't look so surprised, Hinata," he said, responding to her surprised expression. "Konoha intelligence _does _keep track of this stuff, you know. Iruka was wondering why you weren't stronger than you were, when you should easily have been at least as strong as Sasuke here. He requested that a discrete investigation be done into you, and the results were quite—disturbing. It was concluded that due to your traumatic childhood, your father constantly berated you for being weak, even when you were anything but. No matter how much you trained and tried to please him, no matter what you did, it always came back to the same conclusion—comparing you to your younger sister and older cousin and making you feel like you really deserve what happens to you.

"Konoha law overrides clan law in every way. No matter what he would have said, we would have taken you from his household and put you somewhere else…but the investigation was only a few months ago, and to have taken you from him then would have been pointless. As it is…well, we'll get to that momentarily."

Sasuke got the attention of Kakashi, and likewise got a nod. "And me?" he asked. "What's my deficiency supposed to be?"

The old man chuckled. "You, Sasuke…it is a bit more simple than young Hinata's. Although admittedly strong for your age, for the past four years you've had no teachers other than your Chuunin instructors. While this may have helped you improve your basic skills more than they were beforehand, you already knew all the academy jutsu before you actually went to the academy, correct?" Sasuke nodded, and the old man continued. "As a shinobi for you're age, you are strong. But as an Uchiha…you're grossly underdeveloped. You wasted four years going to the academy when you should have been getting much stronger than you were and better training. The Uchiha are famed for being able to learn and master hundreds, if not thousands, of jutsu during their career, but you probably don't know more than twenty or so. Honestly…Itachi was five times stronger than you at your age."

Sasuke's eyes smoldered underneath his bangs; he wanted to say something to the Hokage…but it would probably land him in prison. "Living in the Uchiha compound all alone isn't helping you any, either," continued Sarutobi. "The constant isolation could be more harmful than you might have thought. Social interaction is something that everybody needs to stay sane in this world, and you have been alone for far too long."

Now _that _pushed the correct buttons, all right, but Sarutobi went on as if nothing happened. "And you, Naruto," he said. "Where do I start? As the _jinchuuriki _of the nine-tailed demon spirit Kyuubi, virtually limitless potential awaits inside of you. After your rather…unusual activity last night and the actions taken there, I now realize that you as well have been severely undertrained…a situation I hope to rectify quickly. You show promise, all right, but much more than you have lead us to believe. You didn't exactly lie, but you haven't exactly been forthcoming with us, have you? If we had known before now that you could summon the Kyuubi to fight like that, a more active training program might have been instigated for you."

"Fight like what?" interjected Sasuke. The Sandaime looked irked at the Uchiha.

"I'll let Naruto tell you later," he said, "but you may not reveal it to anyone, period."

"…Ok," he said after a pause, then promised himself that he'd rip the story out of Naruto when this was all over.

"In any case," the Hokage continued, "the three of you are some of the strongest graduates from the academy with the greatest potential out village has ever seen. Coincidence or not, this is an opportunity too good to pass up. The three of you will become the next incarnation of the Sanseirei…the Three Spirits."

A silence hung about the room, broken only when Sasuke uttered a short laugh. "You can't be serious," he said. "The Sanseirei are only a myth, a group of ninja more legendary than even the Sannin. It was said that they fought like ghosts, and killed so quickly that none of their victims ever saw their faces before they died. Nobody has ever seen them and lived…at least that's what the stories say. There's no evidence that they existed, beyond rumor and speculation."

The Hokage puffed again on the pipe. "Yes, you would think that, wouldn't you?" he said the young boy. "The truth is, that is what we _wanted _the general populace to believe. Sasuke, you know about the three legendary shinobi of Konoha, the Sannin, correct?"

"Of course," Sasuke said. "Who doesn't? Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru, the three heroes of the Second Secret Shinobi World War. They earned the title from the man who would later become the leader of Amegakure, the Salamander ninja Hanzou when they were the last ones to survive against him in a battle."

Sarutobi nodded. "That is correct. What are some of the legends that actually surround them, though? What adventures did they go on, what quests have they undertaken? Surely you must know _some _of this. The gained legendary status; how did they build onto it?"

Sasuke was silent—he had no reply. In truth, he _didn't _know exactly how they had gotten such a legend, besides their obvious strength. The Hokage chuckled softly. "Silence, eh? One of the greatest wisdoms of our world, of that I am certain. The simple truth is, many of the stories that circulate about the shinobi villages concerning the Sannin are nothing more than that—stories. Yes, there are a few non-fictions thrown into there along the way, but they have become so embellished through the years it's difficult to tell exactly _what _is the truth anymore.

"The Sanseirei, however…they are a different kind of legend. Since the beginning of Konoha, there have been two teams of Sanseirei…one formed very soon after the inception of Konoha, and one about thirty years ago…give or take. There were no official records of their operations, _ever. _Can you guess why? Hinata?"

The girl looked at Kakashi, who nodded his permission to speak. "Is it…because…they didn't exist?" she nearly whispered.

The Sandaime smiled. "Exactly. The Sanseirei were a group of ninja that answered to me and me alone. They were the black-ops unit among black-ops units. They were the shadow in the night, the invisible blades, the silent death."

"Your own personal hitmen," Sasuke added.

"That makes it sound so…sullied, Sasuke," the old man said. "But, yes. In a sense, you are correct. The last Sanseirei performed every task I asked them to to perfection. They were flawless, the ultimate shinobi, their loyalties to me and me alone."

"And you expect us to take up this mantle?" Naruto asked. "To become nothing more than glorified assassins? I mean, we're ninja, we'll probably have to do our share of killing again pretty soon anyway…why all the secrecy? Why all of the running around in henges all the time when this could have just been better explained at the academy by Kakashi-sensei?"

Smoke trailed to the ceiling as the Sandaime inhaled, then exhaled. "The Sanseirei don't exist," he repeated, "because the people in this room…and perhaps one or two others…nobody will ever know that you are them." He sighed and set the pipe down. "The Sanseirei were an extremely well-trained squad, unique in all Konoha. Unlike most shinobi that specialized in one or two techniques, such as Gai or Anko here, the three members of the Sanseirei were highly skilled in nearly every form of ninja art, from nin, gen, and taijutsu, seal knowledge, kenjutsu…all across the board, they were expert, if not master. This was done because they had to be ready to face any eventuality at any time…as Sasuke put it so bluntly, you are to be 'my own personal hitmen.'"

"But why us?" Naruto asked. "Yeah, we might have a lot of potential, but we're still just kids. The black-op stuff doesn't usually come until you reach the rank of Chuunin, right? There have to be better candidates for this kind of stuff."

"It's simple, really," answered Kakashi. "Hinata is the unwanted heir to one of the most prestigious clans in Konoha. Sasuke is the only Uchiha left in the village, from a clan that is known for adapting quickly and efficiently. And Naruto, the _jinchuuriki _of the Kyuubi, is despised throughout the village. Each one of you could disappear at any moment of the day without causing much of a stir, to be honest. If you dropped out of public eye, Hinata…your father's only concern would probably be whether the Cloud has gotten you. Sasuke has no adult supervision whatsoever, giving him nearly unlimited freedom, and people would probably rejoice if Naruto dropped off the face of the earth."

Naruto snorted. "And the old man wants us to help us protect these people?" he muttered to his comrades.

"No," said the Hokage, his keen ears catching the words, much to Naruto's chagrin. "I want you to serve me, exclusively, as my own private army. Everyone in this room will be in charge of training you, and each will be your sensei…except for Tsume-san, who will be teaching Naruto exclusively, for reasons that will be explained later. You will obey them in every way for the next two to three years of your life while you train, and may go on training missions under any one at any time before taking up active duty…but your loyalty will be to I and I alone. Anything else is secondary. _I _am the final authority. Is that understood?"

The three Genin looked at each other, questioning each other with their eyes. Were they up for this kind of assignment? Leaving everything behind just for the sake of the mission?

"I have just one question before I answer you, Hokage-sama," said Naruto. "What did you mean by us disappearing?"

"The three of you will be removed from your currant homes and be given residence at the ANBU barracks. There you will train with your sensei and mingle with the ANBU, learning whatever possible. Five days a week will be devoted to training, one further education, and the last a rest day. These days are subject to be juggled around sporadically, depending on your various senseis' schedule."

"So…Hinata will be taken away from her home and put into the ANBU with us?" Naruto asked.

"Yes," said that Hokage. "That's correct."

Naruto's face was resolute. "I don't need any more convincing," he said. He got out of his chair and kneeled before his Hokage. "Hokage-sama, I am your tool to do with as you wish. Use me as you wish. I strike who you tell me to strike. I kill who you tell me to kill. I protect what you tell me to protect. I am yours, until the day I die."

Hinata and Sasuke stared at him for a moment, then kneeled down alongside him, Hinata to his left and Sasuke to his right, and spoke their own version of the pledge, each one as solemn as Naruto had been. The Jounin in the room smiled at the three as they kept their position. "Arise, my children," said the Hokage in an affable tone. "The next couple of years should be _very _interesting indeed."

* * *

Wow. That didn't come out exactly the way I thought it would. The bit near the beginning with the dreams was a spur-of-the-moment thing, but I suppose it came together pretty well, and I do have an explanation for it…but I don't think that any of you could figure it out. 

That part with the kissing, too, was unplanned, but now that I think about it it filled a void that I had been looking to fill for some time now. Evil Ino! Bad girl!

I hope you enjoyed the chapter; I sure did. This is the setup for the rest of the chapters to come. If you thought it came across a bit weird, it probably was. I tried to do this in two days of writing, but I couldn't, so it extended into three days of work. All in all, probably fifteen hours were devoted to this chapter, with planning and typing all collected.

Now, to business. (Stand up and clink wine glasses. To business!) Although I got some pretty good reviews, there still aren't a lot coming in. I was wracking my brains the other night trying to figure out how to get some more input, when it came to me: reader interaction! The 50th person to review Rising star (if it's for this chapter) to review, or the closest person after that with an active account will be allowed to design an original character in here that will feature a prominent roll later on. If more people review, the 65th person will be allowed to—in broad strokes—be allowed to plan out the first real lemon I will put on this site. Not for this chapter, but in an entirely different story. Maybe it'll be a one-shot, or maybe a series…depends on the reception. One thing: I REFUSE to do straight yaoi! I can understand why someone might like some of that stuff, but I will NOT WRITE IT! Anything else is ok…and I suppose bi stuff would be okay, in small doses…but I reserve the right to veto anything I want. Characters, setting, mood—it'll be all up to the magic 65. If that doesn't work, I have no idea what would.

This chapter burned me out. My life is pretty hectic, but I've devoted as much time as possible in the past month to this thing, and I think my grades are suffering because of it. I'm gonna take a week off of writing and kick back a bit, get to my own reading list. My paperbacks miss me dearly, and the coffee shop down the road has begun sending out search parties. Expect a new chapter in about two weeks; 12k in three days isn't that easy, you know.

Thanks for all your support; hope to see you again real soon. And review...it is what makes life worth living for me. MY survival is up to you.


	7. High Heat

Read the first and last Author's Notes

**Read the first and last Author's Notes.**

**Read the first and last Author's Notes.**

**Read the first and last Author's Notes.**

A/N: Ok, if you're reading this then you show the ability to follow basic instructions. Good, good, I had such high hopes for you. As you may have guessed by now, this is the seventh chapter of my epic tale of Naruto, Rising Star. A lot of things have been happening over the past couple months, forcing me to make breaks and fail deadlines on this particular chapter. I know, I know, you need your Naruto fix, and I'm sorry about making you wait, but thems the breaks.

Ok, I have a few announcements to make regarding Rising Star. First off, I hope the next chapter doesn't take as long as this one did to make it up. Second, the winner of the character contest has been decided, and it should be obvious who it is that's making a first appearance. If you can't figure it out, you're beyond my help. Third, roughly one quarter of all the stuff appearing in this chapter was made up on the fly. If you can guess what it was, you're a better man than I am.

Ok, now time to acknowledge you reviewer's existence by responding to some of your reviews (what else?). For the record, if I don't answer yours it's either because another one answers your question, it's just saying "I love this, keep it up" or something along those lines, or I just don't feel you are worthy of my notice you insolent mortals. Muahaha I have the power!

Ok, from oldest to newest:

**Oni no kiri: This chapter should explain a few things to you.**

**blackwolf0925: The trio will each definitely get a summoning contract or two, but _way _out of the ordinary. You're on the right track with the Kyuubi thing, but not quite there. Oh, and Danzo will get involved sometime, but not till a bit later.**

**LonewolfBloodstorm: Each of the Sanseirei will get a specialized sensei down the road, but for now are all training together. And it might not be who you think, either…I'll let that stew for a while.**

**Dismal Evans: Glad you like the way NaruHina worked in this one so far. I know she's kinda OOC in chapter 6, and that will only be intensified in 7, but I think it's for the best. And I'm up in the air whether to detail the timeskip as it happens or just flashback from after.**

**thales85: The Sanseirei will not drop off the face of the earth, but remain in Konoha all the while. Remember, it's not unusual for shinobi to be gone months at a time, so if they're gone for a while, nobody will really notice. Trust me, there will be interaction later on.**

**Lord of the Trees: Each Sanseirei will have training in the same things, but of course each will have something that they kick ass in. For instance, without giving too much away, Naruto will become a seal master in a very short while…pay attention and you might understand why.**

**Byakko Ta: I'm sorry, that bit was kinda rushed and not my best example of literature. I promise I'll try to work on that kind of thing more often in the future. Plus, now that I have a beta to smack me around, crap like that will be much less common.**

**Chronostorm: Glad you liked it, brother. Mizuki is dead, but not quite finished. Stick around enough and you might figure out why. Trust me, it's only going to be one scene, then he's gone forever.**

**mbshadow: Glad you liked the kiss scene, I was rather proud of it. And yes, I did change direction but only a little bit. This was the direction I wanted to go from the beginning, but the first couple of chapters was all about me really finding my writing style for this fic. I was torn between wanting to make this all gruesome and bloody and totally graphic (take the popular fic "Nine-tailed Serpent for example—freakin awesome I think) or making it more humor base (gotta say "Training for the Job). I decided to try to hover in the middle as much as possible. If I get off track, please give me the digital smackdown.**

**Dameus: Glad you liked it, but I have this to say: while Hanabi may develop a crush on Naruto somewhere down the line, if she hasn't already, there will be nothing romantic between the two. Even after the timeskip she's way too young. Friend, sure. Little sister? Maybe. I might even throw some comedy between the two in, but no lemons, or even citrus. Hope that's ok with you. If not, tough tittie.**

**On Guard: I respect your opinion. I really do. No please respect my right to have the opinion that you're a dick. Case closed.**

**GraityTheWizard: Sorry, there won't be that much Ino action here that really highlights the psychic scamp. Also, no harem work here either. Gonna have to settle for only one kunoichi wanting to jump our favorite blonde dynamo's bones. And Naruto will not be joining the Inuzuka, but he will have _very _close ties to them…should explain it in the next couple chapters or so. Patience my young padawan.**

**Dragon Man 180: Anko will eventually be working on Hinata, maybe, but more for personality and technique than appearance. It'll all make sense later on, trust me.**

**Lizard13: Yeah, again not my best bit of writing. I swear I'll do better in the future.**

Okay, that's all the reviews I care to answer right now. Hope your questions were answered. If not, get in touch with me and I'll answer anything you have to ask. Now read on, enjoy, and check out the bottom A/N, it might be important.

* * *

Chapter 7

Naruto hated Maito Gai. He hated the spandex-wearing man with a passion that could not be matched by the hottest flames of hell. He hated the man with every fiber of his being, every iota of his soul. If Naruto could kill a man just by looking at him, Maito Gai would have been nothing more than a pile of rotting meat long ago.

Naruto lay in his bed, nude except for a pair of boxers. After the training session the "Green Beast" of Konoha had put them through today, Naruto couldn't bear the thought of wearing any clothes at all; any added pressure on his muscles was pure agony. The greatest relief that he could look forward to after Gai's training sessions was getting out of ear-shot of the man and letting loose a string of curses that would make Hinata blush and any passing ANBU nod in respect.

The Spartan room that Naruto had been assigned wasn't even remotely glamorous, looking exactly like any other room in the barrack complex, from his own all the way on up to the captain of all ANBU, a creepy man named Tenzou with head gear that looked eerily similar to that worn first by the Nidaime Hokage.

Naruto hated the green-clad man with the fire of a thousand suns for what he had done to his body…all made possible by the man who he had sworn allegiance to just a month beforehand. Naruto didn't hate _him…_but he was really getting a healthy dislike of the man very, _very _quickly. As the memories rushed through his head for the thousandth time in thirty days or so, Naruto prayed that he wouldn't be too stiff for his weekly day off for ramen at the Ichiraku, the only time he had available to give into his cravings.

**_FLASHBACK_**

Hinata and Sasuke stared at him for a moment, then kneeled down alongside him, Hinata to his left and Sasuke to his right, and spoke their own version of the pledge, each one as solemn as Naruto had been. The Jounin in the room smiled at the three as they kept their position. "Arise, my children," said the Hokage in an affable tone. "The next couple of years should be very interesting indeed."

The three stood up before their Hokage, each one with different thoughts in their head**(s)** as they faced their new…liege, Naruto guessed they should think of him. Shinobi of villages served their village or clan, for the most part…but some independent ninja chose to serve one person or small group in exchange for a steady paycheck. In that respect, they were similar to samurai, (usually) honorable swordsmen that dedicated their lives to their master.

The Hokage explained exactly what the different Jounin in the room would be teaching them, and when. Anko and Ibiki would be doing their sensei duties together, teaching the three mostly in psychology and how to get inside of an enemy's mind, but would occasionally go beyond those duties in torture instruction…on living lessons, to Hinata's horror—and possibly Sasuke's satisfaction. Ibiki would focus on the mental form of interrogation, while Anko on the more grisly physical aspect of it. Each of them professed to be expert in their fields, although Anko said that it was "mostly just a hobby."

Gai would be teaching them taijutsu…but not until later on, he explained. For the next two months, all he would be doing is physically conditioning the children; four days a week, they would get up before dawn for laps around the inside of the gates of Konoha. Starting "light" they would only have to do no more than three or four, depending on their state at the end of the second lap. If they couldn't manage past two—although at least that amount was expected of the trio—they were to do pushups…while doing handstands, only to stop when Gai instructed them to. Six to eight hours a day were expected from the trio under Gai, four days a week, with the rest of the day usually spent under tutelage from their original sensei, Kakashi.

Kakashi was to teach them as many ninjutsu as humanly possible over the course of the next two or three years. He would teach them basic and advanced ninjutsu, while each would get a separate tutor for their elemental affinity.

Yuuhi Kurenai would eventually be instructing them in genjutsu, but that wouldn't be for quite a while, as her duties as a sensei for her own cell would be taking up much of her time. When they had settled down some and she had time for them, she probably would find her way to the ANBU compound…but at the moment she didn't even know that the Sanseirei existed.

Tsume Inuzuka, who was indeed Kiba's mother, was special in that she was exclusively Naruto's special Jounin-sensei. When Naruto asked why this was, the Hokage himself explained it to the boy.

"The changes brought to your body due to the Kyuubi's influence have made your muscles and bones very similar to an Inuzuka that is utilizing Juujin Bunshin. I believe Hana-chan explained this to you last night, correct?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, she did. Something about my muscles and bones and organs changing. I won't bleed to death anytime soon, and I'm a lot more flexible than before."

"Precisely," the old man said. "Tsume, if you don't mind," he said, waving his hand at the savage-looking woman that looked so much like her daughter…and yet so different.

"Of course, Hokage-sama. Naruto, the Inuzuka style of taijutsu is a high-speed, high-impact style that requires highly-tuned senses and spatial awareness. You've seen Kiba do the Gatsuuga, right?"

"A few times, yeah," answered the boy.

"The Juujin style was developed over eighty years ago by my ancestors once they had gained an affinity with the dogs that our family uses—dogs like my Kuromaru here, or Kiba's Akamaru. While technically possible to perform a Gatsuuga without the dogs or the Juujin Bunshin, the stress put upon our bodies would destroy us eventually. The reason for this is simple: the Gatsuuga works by running chakra through your body at near-insane levels to accelerate it into a spin and propelling the user forward at a high velocity at an opponent. The damage is done when impact is made and our hands, which have by then grown longer claws, or more rarely our teeth, strike an opponent. The Gatsuuga takes a toll on the joints that are in the hands and arms, but this is compensated by the physical transformation a human uses to turn into a more bestial version of themselves.

"However, there is one major flaw in the Gatsuuga: for maximum effect, the user of it doesn't usually hit the target directly—instead, they veer about eight inches to a foot to the side of an enemy. This is done so that the claws will have the maximum striking power while still knocking him or her around a bit. That wouldn't be an issue…but a fast enough target could potentially dodge the attack entirely. That's where the nin-ken come in. An opponent could dodge one or two, maybe even three attacks, but a constant barrage from two enemies would overwhelm just about any enemy, period. My daughter, Hana, has maximized her taijutsu ability by not using one dog, but three at a time. This makes up for her slower speed, as compared to most of the clan and me. There is a variant of the Gatsuuga where the hands are held out at the forefront of the attack, but that's a more self-destructive technique as it is mainly used to penetrate barriers.

"There's a reason why I was asked to teach our technique to you—Kakashi-san tells me that you've learned how to perform the Kage Bunshin. Is that true?"

"Well…kinda," Naruto answered. "Technically I _did_ learn it last night, but I haven't actually performed the technique myself. I know how to do it in theory, though."

The woman nodded. "Good. I was thinking that with the Kage Bunshin, your clones could replace the dogs that we Inuzuka routinely use. Now, I'm not exactly sure if it'll work or not, seeing as Kage Bunshin have a habit of disintegrating on impact. If it _does_ work, however…you could be quite formidable indeed."

"What about Hinata and Sasuke?" Naruto asked. "What will they be doing while I'm with Tsume-sensei?"

"They'll be sparring together," said Sarutobi. "Combat training is critical; practice with a dummy can only bring you so far. They'll be honing their abilities to perfection at the same time as you, just in a different way."

The old man looked around the room at his soldiers. "I believe that this covers everything, except for this: this is not to leave this room, at all. Not a word will be spoken of this to anybody for any reason outside these walls unless I have given you specific permission, or if someone comes to you with a special password, which will change every five days. There are factions within Konoha that seek to undermine my authority in my village…and would jump at the chance to gain control of you, Naruto. There are those who would depose me if they could…and that is one thing that I will not allow. The Sanseirei exist for one purpose: protection of the Hokage and carrying out his will. To deviate from either path would be nothing short of betrayal. Do I make myself clear?"

To the man and woman, each shinobi nodded their head and chorused "Yes, sir!"

The Hokage smiled. "In that case, dismissed…except for you, Naruto, and Kakashi. There is something that I wish to say to you…in private. Gai, please take them to the ANBU compound and get them situated. Tsume and Anko, go to the Hyuuga estate and gather any belongings that Hinata wishes to take with her. If Hiashi gives you any trouble, Anko…do what you must. You too, Tsume—don't let him stand in your way. Explain to him that you are under orders directly from the Hokage to remove Hinata from the household and any complaint should come straight to me. Understood?"

Something like a grin came to the snake kunoichi's face, but there was too much malice in it to be one. "Oh, yes, Hokage-sama," she almost purred. "I understand perfectly." Followed by Tsume, she placed her hand on Hinata's back and steered her toward the door. "Come on, Hinata. Let's make this quick. Much as I would love to have a…_conversation_…with your father, I have some other errands to run." The Inuzuka followed the two, who was immediately followed by Gai and Sasuke, the former of which was saying something about the "power of youth." Ibiki trailed behind them, an exasperated look on his face; whenever Gai started going on like that, there was no stopping him.

Finally, it was just Naruto, Kakashi, and Sarutobi left in the room. "Naruto," the old man said once he was sure the door was securely closed. "I would like you to explain something to me that has had me puzzled for some time now."

"Um…sure, Hokage-sama," Naruto said. "What's up?"

"Whenever you perform jutsu, which do you use more—your own natural chakra, or the Kyuubi's chakra?"

The question caught Naruto by surprise. To be honest, he didn't really know. "If I had to say specifically, sir," he said, "I guess that maybe half of the chakra I use for jutsu comes from me, and the other half from the fox. For the past three years, our communication link has grown stronger…so the amount of chakra I draw from him grew as well. At first, I had to consciously take it from him, but now it's mostly automatic. In extreme cases, I could make it so that all of the chakra I use comes from him…but that would damage my body too much."

The Hokage and Kakashi shared a look. "That's exactly as I thought," stated Sarutobi. "Naruto, I want you to stop using the fox's chakra, at least while you're training."

There was a moment of silence. "You WHAT?!" shouted Naruto. "What the hell could that accomplish? It's the fox's chakra that gives me the advantage in the first place, old man! Why would you want me to stop using it?"

Kakashi sighed. "Naruto," he droned, "if what you told us was true—that when the fox took over your body, it nearly destroyed you after no more than three minutes of possession—that's an indicator that your own chakra level isn't _nearly_ high enough to handle the raw energy of the demon. You said that your chakra nearly burned out just trying to stave off complete control of the fox, even though you gave him permission to take control.

"This tells us two things. First, letting him take over your body is way too dangerous for you to take lightly. The Hokage has classified it as a double-S-class kinjutsu—double, because it has the potential for extreme destruction, but the toll it could put on your body isn't nearly worth the risk. It's even more self-destructive than Gai's Lotus…which is saying something."

"Secondly," continued the Hokage, "your dependency on the fox has caused you to not build up your own chakra stores to maximum potential. Right now, you have more chakra than either Kakashi or me…but you're not using it. In this sense, it has kind of atrophied, becoming weaker without constant usage. Honestly, if you had been using just it all this time, it would probably be three or four times its size."

Naruto thought for a moment. "Well," he said after a pause, "how am I going to just not use the chakra? I really have to concentrate to separate my chakra and the fox's, and by then it's just too much hassle."

The two older men exchanged a look. "Don't worry," said Sarutobi. "You won't have to worry about separating the two chakras. We'll take all decision-making away from your control…for now, at least."

Naruto began to get nervous. "What do you mean, take the decision away from me? Hokage-sama, why are you smiling like that? No! Kakashi-sensei, stop that, let me go! HEEELLLLP MEEEE!"

**_END FLASHBACK_**

Naruto cursed the seal that etched itself around the seal that he had had since birth. While not _nearly _as complex as the seal it surrounded, it proved extremely effective at its intended purpose. The seal that the Yondaime had given him on the day he was born not only captured the fox inside of Naruto, but regulated the chakra flowing through the boy, allowing Naruto to have contact with the demon.

The seal surrounding _that _one, however, had an entirely different purpose—to cut off completely the demonic chakra flowing through Naruto. The seal stopped Naruto from accessing any part of the Kyuubi—it even prevented Naruto from talking to the beast, though that might actually be considered a blessing. Any advantages that the Kyuubi himself gave the boy—heightened senses, greater endurance, and of course the chakra—were stripped away from Naruto. Until the Hokage himself removed the seal, Naruto would be running under his own steam all the way to the end.

And, much to Naruto's _great _annoyance, his healing ability was taken away from him. Even minor wounds that he would have once shrugged off became hindrances to him; kunai and shuriken no longer looked like toys to the boy; instead, they became what they really were—weapons designed to kill and maim.

Even simple things like muscle cramps, which Naruto had never experienced before, slowed him down. Naruto knew that if it hadn't been for the Hokage, he would have been easily out-pacing his team mates, but as it was they were just about on par with him in everything except for pure chakra volume, which he still had in abundance. Granted, the raw amount of chakra that he could draw on was now several times less than he had had before, but when performing basic jutsu the difference didn't really matter.

The one thing that annoyed Naruto the most, however, was he didn't have the chakra control that the Kyuubi had given him. Without the fox, he was using three, four, or even five times the chakra required to perform the jutsu. It annoyed him to no end, having control as shoddy as that, while Sasuke's control was near-perfect, and Hinata's was impeccable. Naruto's chakra supply was at least ten times Sasuke's and Hinata's, so he never ran out of energy before those two during jutsu drills…but the difference was noticeable to him, nonetheless.

Naruto lay on his bed, cursing the day that he met the overbearing taijutsu specialist. All of the exercises were playing havoc on his body, every part of him sore to the bone. He had the rest of the day off, and he planned to spend it right there, without moving an inch, dinner be damned. Although not on par with the pain that had come from the possession of the Kyuubi the night his friend and sensei both died, it was agonizing nonetheless. Instead of a hot, burning agony, it was a dull, cold pain that he just could not dispel. He could move if he wanted to…but the sweet bliss of sleep was too alluring a seductress to ignore.

He was just nodding off to sleep when a knock rang at his door. He groaned in annoyance; why couldn't people just leave him _alone_? "Come in," he mumbled as he raised his head off the pillow to see who his intruder was. He moaned when he saw that it was one of the ANBU that resided just down the hall, Izumi Honoka, a pretty woman who lived just a couple doors down the hall, just to the other side of Hinata's and Sasuke's rooms.

She was a pretty woman of about average height and weight, about five and a half feet tall, a few inches taller than Naruto. She always seemed to have a smile on her face, especially when training with the other ANBU in the main training ground. She was one of the few that knew the true purpose of the trio's stay in the ANBU area; most others just assumed that they were there for special training. She was their official "babysitter", in charge of making sure that they were as comfortable as possible in their bare little rooms, and healing the three of them in the event of injury…something that happened quite often. She wasn't a medic-nin, but had abilities that could, in some cases, put them to shame.

"How ya doin', kid?" she said as she shut the door. "I heard Gai rode you pretty hard today. What's up?"

Naruto groaned again; he did _not _want to talk about his day. "I made the mistake of running my mouth…again…and he had me do a hundred and fifty one-handed handstand pushups on both arms, _without _letting me use chakra to steady myself. Then he made me walk on the ceiling in circles holding a hundred pounds—for an hour. I swear, if I see that man one more time today, I'll cry."

She snorted, then blew a strand of reddish hair from her face. "Well, that's what you get for being a smart-ass," she admonished. "How's your body feel?"

"Like it's been target practice for sledgehammers," the boy replied. "Everything hurts, from head to toe. I don't even know if I'll be able to make it into town tomorrow, it's so bad."

The girl sat down on his bed. She wasn't that much older than Naruto, only nineteen or so, but she seemed so much more mature than the boy. "Aww, poor baby," she cooed into Naruto's ear. "You want mama Honoka to make it all feel better for you?" She trailed her fingers up and down Naruto's sides, tickling the boy as she went from the waistband of his boxers all the way to his armpits. "You know," she continued, gently massaging the sides of his belly and the small of his back, bringing moans of pain and pleasure from the boy, "I really should just let you suffer like this. I mean, he may be a little bit…_off…_but he means well."

She left his back and snuck her fingers under his belly and chest, massaging all but the exact middle section of it. "You know," she said after a minute of her ministrations to Naruto, "I really think that I should just let you suffer with this. It feels pretty bad all around, and without the fox…you belong on the ground with all the rest of us mortal humans." She sang the last two words in a trilly tone, just because she knew that it annoyed the blonde. She stood up from the bed and made as if to walk out.

"Nooo," he moaned as she put her hand on the doorknob. "Please, Honoka-chaaan, come baaack." Naruto was horrified that he was reduced to begging for her attention, but that was exactly what he was doing, much to her amusement.

She stopped before the door. "Well…I suppose I'll help you out this time—but next time you give Gai crap and he works your cute little tail off, don't you _dare _come crying to me. Got it?"

"Oh god, yes," he moaned. "Anything, just help me, please, Honoka-chaaan." She giggled—she absolutely _loved _this kid. She had him wrapped around her little finger, and could bend him as she wanted. It was actually kind of sad—the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi reduced to begging a woman like her for help like that. It was actually kind of cute. If he was just a few years older…

She banished thoughts like that from her head—he was _way _too young for her…even if he _was _kinda cute. Besides, she knew that he belonged to the Hyuuga, Hinata, and she would kill anyone trying to make a move on her man.

_Oh what it is to be young,_ she thought, reciting some half-remembered line from a poem she hadn't read in years. She walked back over to Naruto's side and knelt down next to the bed. "Stay still, Naruto-kun," she said as she gently massaged his back, his shoulders, and his arms. "I don't want to splash the bed again." She unstopped the gourd that was always hanging at her side and held her hand to it.

Concentrating chakra to her hand, water flowed from the gourd to her palm, collecting and concentrating into a glowing orb that shone blue. The light given off of it illuminated the dim room, casting shadows every which way. Honoka pressed the water orb between Naruto's shoulder blades, making him gasp with the chill sensation, as he always did. The water melted from the orb and spread out all across his back and down his arms and legs, but maintained the eerie glow all about. Finally, when the water has spread evenly about his body, the liquid seeped directly into his skin and into his muscles, healing the damage that had been done to it during Naruto's training. This aspect of her family's kekkai genkai, the Enkai Shushou—Ocean Palm—was what made her a coveted member of ANBU. Even though she wasn't a trained medic, her bloodline allowed her to heal flesh and muscular wounds of almost any caliber; as long as there was a blood flow, she could mend the wound.

Of course, that wasn't the only aspect of the blood that ran in her veins; she could use her abilities to destroy as well as create. A technique passed down through her family incorporating the Suijin Onkei allowed her to create weapons made of water, limited only by her imagination and ability to lift said weapon. It was a very versatile bloodline ability, but manipulating the water itself took a lot of chakra. Honoka was considered a prodigy by her family for her near-effortless ability in utilizing the family jutsu, a title that made her application into the ranks of ANBU easier than expected. After only two years in the organization, she had reached the rank of second captain in the fourth division, with a dozen and a half shinobi under her direct command.

"Ooohhh," Naruto moaned under the talented kunoichi's expert hands as she rubbed his shoulders, making sure that the healing energies worked their way deep into his body. "This is heavenly. I love you, Honoka-chan. I love you I love you I love you. Please marry me."

The woman merely laughed at the boy and tugged at his ears. "Sorry my boy," she said as she wrapped her arms around his torso and gave him a tight squeeze. "You're way too young for me…and besides, Hinata might skin me alive if I did anything like…" She slapped Naruto's ass sharply, loud enough to resound around the room but not enough to really hurt, just sting a bit. "…this!" She laughed as Naruto yelped and jumped from his prostrate position at the same time she leapt away from his reach.

With a roar he dived at her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pushing her to the ground. She laughed as he wrestled with her and they tossed each other about the room; she liked the boy, and over the past month had developed a kind of sisterly affection toward him. True, she could kill him in a matter of seconds…but that didn't mean that she couldn't enjoy having fun with him

Their tussle ended with Naruto on top of Honoka, straddling her waist and pinning her arms above her head. The tanned skin of her face was full of laughter as they both caught their breath. This wasn't the first time that they had had this kind of interaction, but never before had Naruto been so…_exposed._

He wanted to get off of his friend…but he didn't.

She wanted to push him off of her…but she didn't.

There were things both of them wanted to say…

But someone knocked at the door.

"Naruto?" Hinata called from outside the room. "Are you in there? Kakashi-sensei just got back from a mission and says he has enough time tonight to teach us a new ninjutsu. Hurry on up!"

Silently Honoka leapt off of Naruto while the boy leapt back onto the bed and lay facedown. Honoka opened the door to a startled Hinata's face. "Hey there, Hinata," the ANBU said. "Naruto just got done with a pretty grueling training session with Gai, and he was being such a baby about it that I just _had _to sooth his muscles, just so he would stop whining about it."

Hinata put a hand to her mouth and giggled. "That sounds like him, all right," she said as she stepped into the room around Honoka. "Still not used to exercising without the Kyuubi to instantly rebuilt the torn muscles, is he? Gai-sensei said that that was a good thing—with the fox instantly healing him like that after all the work, the muscles weren't getting the physical tone that they really needed."

The mood in the room instantly changed. Where playfulness had been coming off of Honoka just moments before, an aura of…_intensity…_fell off of her in waves. "Are you telling me," she said, "that Naruto's body should be rebuilding itself…without the aid of foreign interference?"

A quizzed expression came to Hinata. "Yes, that's true. Why? Is something wrong?"

"This little punk," growled Honoka, "just had me heal all the torn muscles in his body, just a second before you walked into the room."

"He did? Naruto, you know that Gai-sensei told you not to let Honoka do that again after last time!"

"Oh, he did, did he?" Honoka said. "Well, he forgot to mention anything like that to me!"

Naruto looked nothing but guilty in the face of his exposure. "Heh heh…" he nervously chuckled. "I might've…forgotten to mention that?" he said, making it more of a question than a statement.

"Might've…_forgotten_?!" Honoka yelled at the boy.

"Naruto, you know you need to do this right!" Hinata added. "If you start taking shortcuts like the Kyuubi or Honoka's healing ability, you'll never be as strong physically as you could be."

Honoka folded her arms across her chest and looked down at the still-nearly-naked boy sitting on the bed. "Naruto, you disobeyed a direct order from a superior…one charged with making sure you can rely on your body and your skills without hesitation in the future. The Hokage placed an enormous amount of trust in Gai-san to train you as he has…and in you to train to the fullest. This kind of thing can't go on any longer.

"I'm afraid…Naruto, I'm going to have to report this to the Hokage himself."

Naruto's face drained of all color. "No!" he shouted out. "Please, don't do that! I swear I won't do it again, I won't! Please, Honoka-chan, please give me another chance! I'll do anything you say, just don't tell the old man!"

Honoka had turned from Naruto and placed her hand on the doorknob when she stopped in her tracks. She turned her head so Naruto couldn't see her face, her hair shielding her face. "Naruto," she said, and edge in her voice. "Listen closely, because this is the only time I'm ever going to say this—I'll give you one more chance. Break the rules again…I don't care if you fart when someone tells you to keep quiet…and I'll take you to the Hokage myself. Is that clear?"

Hope filled Naruto's chest as his eyes went wide. "T-thank you, Honoka-chan!" he exclaimed. "Thank you so—"

"I'm not finished," she cut in, halting the thanks from Naruto. "I won't bring you into the Hokage…but that doesn't mean you get off so easily. All of your instructors were given leeway in their methods of punishing the three of you…and so was I. Unless you are forced to learn your lesson, Naruto, it won't stick in your head. I'm sorry, but I have to do it." She sighed and removed her hand from the knob. "Naruto…I'm sorry I have to do this." She looked at Hinata. "Naruto, for the next three weeks, you are not to touch Hinata in any way, shape, or form unless under supervision by one of the sensei in charge of you. No hand-holding, no kissing—nothing. If I see you two so much as brush each other's cheek, Naruto, I'll bring you in front of the Hokage so fast it'll make your head spin."

"B-but Honoka-chan!" Naruto sputtered. "That's—that's not fair!" He looked from Hinata's crimson face to Honoka's placid one. "Hinata, tell her that's not fair!"

"Silence, Hinata," Honoka said. "Punishment is never supposed to be fair—it's supposed to teach a lesson. Naruto, you've endangered yourself with your disregard of personal health. This is dangerous not only for you, but for your comrades that one day just might have to rely on your body. In that event, if you continue along this path, depending on shortcuts to get over little aches and pains, you and your friends may die. It's not as farfetched as it sounds, Naruto. I have heard of ninja that have had multiple treatments from medical ninja, using nothing but med-jutsu on a recurring body part and it becoming destroyed under stress. _That _is why I'm punishing you like this. Cutting off contact with your little girlfriend is the best way to make you remember to behave in the future. If you have a problem with it…you can take it up with the Hokage, if you want."

Naruto's hands were clenched into fists, shaking with barely-suppressed rage. Hinata's hands were held to her mouth, face red with a mixture of embarrassment and sorrow. It was only Naruto's warm comfort that let her advance emotionally as she had in just one month, bringing her out of her shell slowly but surely. After a hard day of training, when she had messed up or felt as if she was some sort of disappointment, he was always there to comfort her and support her. Now, because of Honoka…

_No, not because of Honoka-chan, _she told herself. _It's not her fault. I hate to say it… but my Naruto-kun's to blame. _She sniffed softly to herself, then backed away from Naruto half a step. "She's right, Naruto-kun," Hinata said softly. "You have to follow the rules… even if you don't want to."

"B-but I'll do anything else besides that!" Naruto shouted. "I'll scrub the head with my toothbrush, I'll do all the laundry for the whole cell! Anything besides that!"

Honoka's steely eyes bore straight into Naruto's. "And are those both punishments better for you than not being able to kiss Hinata?" she quizzed him quietly.

"Of course!" exclaimed the demon-inhabited youth.

"That's exactly why it's a fitting punishment for you," she said, crushing any hope Naruto had of getting the sentence overturned. "Come, Hinata," she said, placing a hand on the smaller girl's back and steering her out of the room. "You're wanted outside by Kakashi. You too, Naruto. Hurry up and get dressed—you've wasted enough of our time already."

Hinata threw a desperate glance over her shoulder as Honoka pushed her out of the room, as if begging Naruto to save her from the ANBU, but Honoka left no time for pleading—she slammed the door, leaving Naruto with nothing but anguish and regrets.

……………………

The bright afternoon sun shone into Naruto's eyes as he stepped out onto the main courtyard where the ANBU did the majority of their combat training. Three high walls made the majority of the barrier around the two- by three hundred meter grassy field, with the fourth wall being split by an artificial pond used for suiton jutsu and a safe place to practice katon jutsu. Currently, there were five or six ANBU already there, perfecting their various techniques, two of them sparring together lightly, the rest solitary. They gave the other inhabitants of the field their space, however—None other than Hatake Kakashi, former captain of all ANBU was standing near the wall furthest from the lake with the lone Konoha Uchiha, second captain Honoka, and the Hyuuga heiress, Hinata. As Naruto joined them, the last to arrive in the group, all eyes turned to him, Honoka's disapprovingly, Kakashi's lazily.

Naruto locked eyes with his caretaker and silently asked her if she had told Kakashi anything. A quick shake of the head alleviated his fears for the moment—Kakashi wouldn't hesitate to go to the Hokage over this matter. So far in his training, he had proven to be just as hard a taskmaster in his own way as Gai was in his. Instead of training the body, however, he had been training their minds—that is, their chakra control and jutsu knowledge. Every time they saw him for training added one or two new jutsu to their arsenal. He only saw them two or three times a week, so he taught them the basics of the jutsu and expected them to master it on their own throughout week. True, he had taught them several very useful techniques, but he never took the time to walk them through it that much, preferring to spend no more than an hour or so with them a session so that they could get it down. He then usually walked off…either into the ANBU complex, or off toward town, reading one of his pervy books.

Today was unusual, however, due to the accompaniment of Honoka. Never before had she been a part of their training. _Is today some sort of water technique or something?_ Naruto wondered. He decided to save his questions until he had joined the others.

"What's up?" he said a few seconds later as he came together with his comrades.

"About time you showed up, dobe," Sasuke said, making Naruto scowl. True, the two were on much friendlier terms together due to their shared fate, but verbal sparring was a common occurrence for the two Genin.

"Better late than never, teme," Naruto shot back.

"That's enough, you two," Kakashi said, interrupting before they could really get into it. "I have a new jutsu to teach you two, so just try to get along, will you?"

Naruto's eyes brightened: he just _loved _it when their sensei taught them new techniques. He was absorbing them like a sponge, memorizing the hand signs easily and almost always perfectly executing the jutsu on one of the first tries. True, his chakra control was abysmal, but with time, practice… and a certain secret weapon of his that allowed him to perfect techniques a hundred times faster than his partners… it shouldn't be a problem. "Awesome!" Naruto shouted. "What is it? And why is Honoka-chan here with us?"

Kakashi rubbed his chin. "The technique I'm going to teach you today has a high degree of personal danger to it. While not exactly a kinjutsu, bodily damage from improper execution of the jutsu isn't uncommon."

"Sounds tricky," Sasuke muttered. "Should be fun. What is it?"

"It's a technique that was originally designed for infiltration, as it was primarily employed to disintegrate walls and doors to rubble. Over time, though, it has become a popular assassination technique for those desperate enough to use it. That's why we have Honoka here with us…one of you will probably get hurt."

"That…Sounds exciting," Naruto said. "What's it called?"

Kakashi chuckled. "Ladies and gentlemen," he said in a mocking tone, "I give you the **Shinkirou Enmu**, the Mirage Haze." Without further introduction, he removed his right glove and looked to Naruto. "Naruto, make an earth wall. It'll be necessary to properly demonstrate this technique."

"Um, ok," he said with a shrug and performed one of the first techniques Kakashi had taught him. **"Doton: Doro Gaeshi!**" he said, forcing a wall of earth to rise up before him. His chakra held it in place and allowed it to retain its form, even if he stepped away from it. Primarily a defensive technique, it had its uses, but had its flaws as well. In any case, it was a useful training tool when practicing destructive techniques.

"Watch carefully, and pay attention you three," he said, "and try to tell me what you see." He flashed through a short series of hand seals and held his hand out in front of him, left hand braced on the inside of his right elbow. His right hand began to shimmer, as if intense heat was rising off of it. But instead of rising up, as heat would, the waves of distortion went off in all directions, as if the hand was itself generating the disturbance.

He then began moving it in short circles, then up and down, creating an after-image effect that lasted for a full second after it had changed position. It was quite disconcerting to look at, and nearly impossible to focus on properly. Every time Naruto thought he had a lock on Kakashi's hand, it was somewhere else, with only the illusion of his hand in its place.

"Is this some sort of genjutsu, sensei?" asked Naruto. "I'm not too good at those these days, since the fox got sealed."

Kakashi chuckled lightly. "Not at all, Naruto. It is a ninjutsu, for sure. Sasuke, you look like you've figured it out—tell Naruto and Hinata what is happening."

Sasuke snorted. "It's obvious," he said. "Your hand is vibrating at an ultra-high frequency, like a tuning fork when it's struck. The vibrations from your hand disturb the air around it, creating the haze effect, and the intense speed your cells move at create the mirage effect."

"Astute, as always, Sasuke," Kakashi said to his pupil. "It's not as simple as that, however. The jutsu doesn't automatically target the hand…without proper control and training, it could actually make the whole body vibrate. Hinata, why do you think that would be a bad idea?"

"Umm… I guess… it could damage organs?"

"Exactly!" said Kakashi. Organs are very sensitive; there's no way to train them to put up with the stress of the Shinkirou Enmu. The hand, however, can easily be trained to be tough. Of course, with your years of training to be a shinobi, very little in actual preparation from here on is needed. Good chakra control, good self-confidence, and speed are all you need." He walked to the opposite side of the wall of where Naruto was standing. "Naruto, get over here. I don't want you to get hit by debris. You two, too," he said, indicating to Sasuke and Hinata. "I want you to see this up close."

The three Genin Sanseirei clustered behind their sensei, all eyes attempting to focus on his shimmering hand…a task that proved to be harder than it appeared, even with their close proximity. Without a word, he pressed his flat palm against the wall of earth—

And an instant later a cloud of dust and rubble filled the air, coating them with dirt and pelting them with minute pebbles. They all coughed, save for Kakashi, who already had a covering over his mouth—the perpetual mask he was never seen without. The light was obscured in a twenty-foot radius around the group, inhibiting all vision. After a few moments, the debris had settled enough for Naruto to get his bearings. He looked at the wall he had created…or rather, the space where the wall had been. Nothing was left but a small straight line of earth and stone, raised just a few inches off of the ground. "Wow," muttered Naruto. "That's some jutsu, all right."

"It's an A-class ninjutsu," Kakashi said, catching Naruto's attention…who noticed that his sensei didn't have a speck of dust on him at all when he should have looked identical to his students. "It's dangerous in the right hands, but with an amateur performing it it could very well be akin to suicide. That's why I'll be spending the rest of the day with you to help you get it down right…without any danger to yourselves. Any questions?"

After a moment's pause, Naruto held up his hand. "Yeah, I've got one," he said. "Why the hell aren't you dirty like us, Kakashi-sensei?"

Sasuke and Hinata groaned, and Honoka rubbed her eyes with her fingers. "Any _intelligent _questions?" Kakashi asked the other two Sanseirei. "No? Then watch my hands, and pay attention. The seals are easy to master…it's the execution that could cause all the problems. I hope you're ready for this…it just might be rougher than you like."

…………………………

Naruto soothed his aching right arm with bags upon bags of freshly-crushed ice, fully aware of what would happen if he asked Honoka for any assistance for his pains, even though they were legitimately gained during the training. The intense vibrations put upon his arm by the jutsu were almost too much to bear; now he knew why Kakashi had given them the warning. So far, out of all of the jutsu Kakashi had taught them, this one had to be his least favorite.

Hinata, of course, executed the jutsu perfectly the first time, as great chakra control was required to focus all of the vibrations in only the hand and keep it away from the rest of the body. It took Sasuke a while longer to get it down, about an hour for the first vibrations to resonate through his body, but he at least had the basics down pat by the time Kakashi had dismissed them.

It had not been a good day for the demonic boy, however. It had only taken about twenty minutes for him to actually perform the jutsu itself…but the results had been disastrous, to say the least. The first time the jutsu actually activated, he hadn't known what to do or how to focus throughout his body. Consequently, instead of localizing in his right hand, or at least his arm, it spread all the way throughout his body, even all around. What Kakashi hadn't told them was the vibrations were collective—as the vibrations were focused, they became more concentrated. Reversely, as they became more spread out, the vibrations became less intense, but more…deep. Somehow, they converted from a supersonic frequency to a subsonic. Naruto then realized why Kakashi had taken off his glove before performing the Shinkirou Enmu—the vibrations from the jutsu destroyed not only stone and earth, but clothing as well. Even though the frequency had been reduced by the diffusion throughout his body, it was still intense enough to destroy the stitches holding the individual pieces of cloth that made up his clothing together…thus, mere seconds after his body started vibrating, he was completely naked save for his sandaru in the middle of the ANBU compound.

_If only I still had the Kyuubi to control the chakra, I would have gotten it right the first time, _he thought to himself as a muscle twitched in his forearm and he winced in mild pain. _And Hinata saw me naked, too…damn, I never thought it would be like _that _the first time around, that's for sure._

Lulled to numbness by the ice and exhaustion in the body, Naruto nearly fell asleep on his bed, only to be startled by a knock on his door for the third time that day. _God, why can't people just LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE?! _he internally screamed. "Come in," he irritably barked as he sat up, shifting the bags of ice off of his aching arm.

The door opened and an ANBU Naruto had seen around a few times before entered into his room, his face covered by a rat zodiac mask. "Hey, kid," he said as he shut the door. "The Hokage wants to see you."

Naruto's blood ran cold as his body froze up. "Did he say why?" he slowly asked.

"Nope," replied the ANBU casually. "He wanted me to get your friends, too…maybe you have a mission or something, I dunno."

Naruto relaxed slightly. His initial fear had been alleviated; he wasn't in trouble for anything. But a mission? They weren't even near ready, after training for only a month. Yeah, they were all a bit stronger, but so far they had mainly just been running around and memorizing different jutsu, with next to no combat practice thrown in. Hell, Naruto hadn't even begun to learn the Gatsuuga yet!

"Come on," said the Rat. "He wants you there within fifteen minutes."

Naruto groaned as he got up off the bed and changed into a fresh set of clothes from his closet. Like his comrades, he had taken to wearing basic black all around—black top with sleeves that came to just past his elbows, shorts that went to the middle of the calf, and black gloves with a metal plate over the knuckles similar to the ones many Jounin tended to favor.

The masked ANBU noticed that Naruto was treating his arm gingerly. "Kakashi-sempai had you guys learning the Shinkirou Enmu, huh?" he chuckled when Naruto nodded. "He was the one who taught me that one a few years ago. I heard someone got stripped again in the courtyard; that was you, right? Heh heh, happened to me, too, at first. Your arm hurting too? Here, this might help." He dug around in his bum pouch and tossed a small container to Naruto, who deftly caught it with his uninjured arm.

Naruto opened the ceramic container to see a pale yellow cream inside, about the consistency of warm butter. "What the hell is this stuff?" he asked, taking a small whiff and quickly pulling his head back. The stuff reeked!

"It's a soothing balm; trust me, it works. Just rub it on your arm, you'll be feeling better in no time. I know, I make it myself."

"What's it made of?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

The ANBU chuckled darkly. "You know the saying, 'Ignorance is bliss'?"

"Yeah?"

"Be blissful," said the Rat with a laugh as he left Naruto's room and shut the door.

Naruto stood in silence, half-dressed and holding the gift from the ANBU, not sure what to do with it. Finally shrugging, he took a closer look at the cream inside of the container. It was pale yellow, as he figured at first glance, but upon closer inspection he noticed minute shredded leaves floating inside of the balm. Herbs, or the like. The smell was rancid, though, like spoiled cream or meat, making Naruto wonder just what it was made of.

Resigning himself to it, he held the jar in his right hand and stuck a finger from his left hand into the concoction. It felt surprisingly warm to the touch, so he began to swirl the cream around and around slowly clockwise, mixing the majority of the cream with a small puddle that had separated from the main mass…like whey separating from curd. Shortly, it was nearly perfectly blended. Taking a deep breath, Naruto scooped a short blob onto his fingers and rubbed it on his wrist, spreading it and rubbing it into the skin. It warmed the area immediately, soaking directly into the skin without any residue whatsoever only a few moments after application. A minute later and his wrist was already beginning to soothe itself, the pain quickly becoming nothing more than a distant memory. Energized by the miraculous cream, he quickly coated his entire arm and shoulder with the cream, soothing and warming it immediately. He rubbed it in until the cream was completely used up, even running his finger along the inside edges to get one more swipe of the stuff.

After it had all been absorbed into his skin, Naruto gave his arm an experimental flex—and nothing happened. All the pain had gone away, for good it seemed.

_I'll have to get some more of this stuff! _he thought to himself. _I wonder if he'll take me on as a customer? _Naruto quickly threw on his shirt and gloves and, as an afterthought, strapped on the leg holster that contained his kunai and shuriken and headed out the door to meet his Hokage.

Naruto entered the Hokage's private office through a secret passageway reserved for ANBU that Kakashi had showed him a few days after Naruto had become one of the Sanseirei. As always, Sasuke and Hinata were already there, as was Kakashi. This time, though, Naruto could sense the tension between Kakashi and Sarutobi, flickering between the two legendary shinobi like lightning in the air.

"Sit," was the only thing Kakashi said, and Naruto complied immediately, not wishing to incur his sensei's wrath. "Hokage-sama," Kakashi said to the man in charge, "I have to once again voice my objections to this operation. They're not ready, not nearly ready enough to try to pull off something like this so soon."

Sarutobi glowered. "Objection noted," he said, "and as I have already told you, this is out of your hands already. I have always respected you, Kakashi, and perhaps given you more slack in certain areas when I should have been more strict…but believe me when I say if you make one more objection I'll have you pulling guard duty at the main gates for a month…_is that clear?_"

Kakashi's eyes knit together, sending invisible daggers at the old man. "Yes…_sir,_" he said, a trace of venom in his voice.

"What's going on?" Sasuke asked Kakashi.

"I have a mission for the four of you, a group mission out of the village," said Sarutobi. "Actually…not really a mission. It's an infiltration/assassination operation, completely off the books…the very reason you three serve me in this capacity."

The words from his mouth rang in Naruto's ears: _infiltration…assassination. _He looked to his left to see Hinata, somewhat surprised to see her looking so calm. In fact…was that determination? He chuckled lightly to himself—she had come a lot farther in a single month than he had, for sure.

"Well, what's the mission?" asked Sasuke impatiently.

The Hokage pulled open a drawer and pulled out three files, tossing one to each of the Sanseirei. Inside were financial documents, transcripts, and photographs, the last of which mainly portrayed a somewhat ugly man in ceremonial dress—a minor official, perhaps.

"Who's the man?" asked Naruto as he leafed through the pages.

"A minor lord in the north-eastern province of Fire country," said the Hokage. "He is suspected of selling secrets to foreign governments hostile to the Leaf."

Sasuke snorted. "Reading between the lines…You mean the Rock village, right?"

Sarutobi nodded his head. "Yes, the Rock, but one or two more, perhaps…governments that are supposed to be our allies, in fact."

"Why do you need us?" Hinata asked softly. "Why can't he just be removed from his post?"

Sarutobi sighed, and remained silent until he pulled out his pipe, packed a wad of tobacco into it and lit it, inhaling the smoke from the stem. He puffed, then blew a perfect ring at the ceiling. "It's not exactly that simple," he said. "Despite his treason, he's a very fair and affable man…someone who I have spent some time with over the past few years and have come to enjoy. I believe that he has sought out my friendship to gain access to various parts of the Leaf government and make connections with several of our shinobi…shinobi who don't exactly approve of our government or the way it's run."

Sudden insight came to Naruto. "These people that don't like our village…they're the same people you're hiding us from, isn't it?"

Sarutobi chuckled softly to himself. "Correct, Naruto. Care to take a guess who my main enemy is, Naruto?"

Naruto sifted through his memories, but couldn't think of any single person among all those he had heard about in Konoha who had the influence to manipulate an official like that. "I'm sorry, Hokage-sama," he said in a rare case of respect for the old man. "I haven't got the foggiest who it is."

Sarutobi chuckled to himself as he took another puff from his pipe. "It's all right, Naruto. It doesn't matter right now who the player is…it's the pawn that we must wipe from the board."

Naruto snorted shortly. "I'm not too hot at shogi, sir," he said, eliciting a laugh from Sarutobi.

"No, I suppose you're not, are you? Well, it doesn't matter…all that matters is the mission. Kakashi will explain the details."

Kakashi moved to the front of the desk, partially blocking the view of the old man from the students. "The first part, infiltration, will be conducted in two parts—establishment, and assimilation.

"The lord—Nagasaki Bunpei—refuses to have shinobi guard him, preferring the company of highly-trained samurai. As you know, traditional samurai, while rare, still do exist. Usually, they find employment as bodyguards for small families, being loath to work for government officials. Most of those who call themselves 'samurai' in this day and age are merely thugs with katana, though, making skilled kenjutsu masters a rarity indeed. It is the master samurai that guard Nagasaki while outside his home, with hired thugs who call themselves samurai being the main house guards.

"His main bodyguard is actually a former ninja from the Mist who became disillusioned with the whole shinobi world and gave up ninjutsu forever, preferring to fight with nothing but his sword. This wouldn't be a problem, normally…but I have met this man before, in battle, though we each left with our lives. He knows me…which is why we need you three."

"Um…what exactly are we supposed to be doing?" asked Naruto. "How do we help?"

Despite the tension in the room, Naruto could sense a smile under Kakashi's mask. "You three," he said with obvious delight, "are going to become samurai yourselves."

Naruto's jaw dropped, Sasuke looked stunned, and Hinata actually uttered an "eep" out loud. Other than that small expression from the only female in the room (as far as Naruto could tell) silence reigned, unbroken until Naruto barked a short laugh. "You've got to be kidding us," Naruto said. "Us? Become samurai? Exactly how long do we have until the mission?"

Sarutobi's jaw flexed around the stem of his pipe. "You have one month to prepare," he said. "In that time, all of your regular training will cease, to be replaced with all the lessons you'd need for becoming a samurai—bushido, kenjutsu, and secret techniques."

"A crash course," muttered Sasuke. "That doesn't leave us much time, does it?"

Kakashi shook his head slowly. "No, it doesn't," he said. "This will be one of the most intense training sessions you will ever have in your life. I know that you've spent the last month working your asses off, and you've already become stronger—even you, Hinata. But this past month will be nothing—_nothing—_compared to what is in store for you."

As one, the three rookie Sanseirei gulped. If the situation had been less serious, Kakashi might have laughed. "So," said Kakashi, "any questions?"

Naruto raised his hand. "Yeah, I do. What's the point in all this? Couldn't you just send a more experienced ninja to assassinate him? And when we get there, what's to stop his bodyguard from recognizing you?"

"Your second question is much easier to answer, so that one comes first. We'll all be wearing masks specially made. Or rather, _I _will be wearing a specially made one…you three will get some old ones from the vault." The casual way he said that made Naruto wonder just what trick he had up his sleeve, and what masks could come from the famed Konoha vault…but he held himself in check.

"And the first question?" he prodded.

"Why are you going with me?" Kakashi asked. He sighed and turned his head slightly so that he could see the Hokage just out of the corner of his one exposed eye. "Sandaime-sama considers this your tooth-breaker, your coming of age. This is a relatively simple mission, all told—gain the lord's trust, become his bodyguards, spend some time with him, look for incriminating data…then kill him." He fell silent, a silence that weighed heavily in the room.

"Tell them," said the old man suddenly.

"We can work around that part of the plan," said Kakashi vehemently. "We don't have to go down that route! It's unnecessary, and risky as well."

Sparks literally flew between the two—the pipe had slipped from the Sandaime's lips to scatter ash and burning tobacco on the desk. "If you have anything to say to me, Kakashi," said the old man in a dangerously low voice that seemed as if it could break up gravel, "say it. No double-talk, no sideways expressions. Just tell me exactly what's going through that mind of yours."

The three Sanseirei held their collective breath. They had unwittingly stumbled on perhaps the most perilous situation in their lives. They knew that Kakashi would give his life for his Hokage…so why the tension? If it came to blows, the two of them could very well destroy the office before they could get up out of their chairs.

"Sir," he said slowly and carefully, "I have never had anything but respect and admiration for you. But I must get this off my chest. In all the years I've known you, this is the only time that I have ever, _ever _felt the need to disobey you. Nevertheless, I will do as you say…but don't ask me to enjoy this mission at all."

Sarutobi eyed the one man in the village who had all of the qualifications to succeed him as Hokage of Konoha should anything ever happen to him carefully. "I will not," he finally said after a long, pregnant pause. "All I ask of you, as always, is your loyalty…not the _blind _loyalty others might show, but loyalty of faith—if not in me, but in the soldiers under your command."

It took a second, but Naruto realized that "the soldiers under your command" referred to him and his friends, Sasuke and Hinata. "Kakashi-sensei," he said softly, "can we hear what the parameters of the mission are before you risk guard duty?"

Kakashi's eye twitched, whether from mirth or annoyance, Naruto could not tell. "I suppose so," he said, "but once you hear it…you'll be the first to object, Naruto. I promise you that."

Kakashi looked down at the floor and closed his eye, as if gathering strength for what he had to say. "You already know the two stages of the mission—infiltration and assassination. The infiltration will be done by disguising yourselves as samurai—or in your cases, my apprentice samurai. I am myself an expert swordsman, so it should be easy to pass myself off as such. You'll be trained in kenjutsu this month by Konoha's greatest swordsman, a Tokubetsu Jounin named Gekkou Hayate. He'll be your one and only sensei, morning, noon, and night. Since kenjutsu is reliant very much so on muscle memory, and we have so little time, you can't afford to be distracted by any other training. You will train for twelve hours a day, six days a week for a month…actually, a month and five days. It'll be intense—but I believe you can handle it."

"Do you honestly expect us to master kenjutsu in just a month?" asked Sasuke.

"Master?" Kakashi snorted. "Not likely. Mastery can take years, even for the greatest prodigy. But in a month, with this regime? You'll be at least competent. Gekkou is the one who trains all ANBU in Konoha to use their swords. You should feel honored that he will be your sensei for an entire month, exclusively."

"That covers the training," Hinata said, "but what's the infiltration going to entail?"

Again, Kakashi paused. "We'll be disguised," he said after a moment, "so none of us will be recognized. Hinata, your eyes are too unique to stay hidden for long. Sasuke, your face just screams 'Uchiha', and Naruto…trust me, you'd be noticed.

"We're going to pose as wandering samurai from eastern Konoha looking for work as bodyguards. Hopefully asking for a job will be enough to get us in…if not, I'll have to improvise. Once we get inside the household and have access, we'll spend as long as it takes to gain Nagasaki's trust and confidence. On the off chance we are able to find hidden documents inside his household demoting his guilt, we are to steal them and bring them to Konoha until a magistrate can take him to trial for treason."

"And if we can't find evidence?" pressed Naruto.

"We kill him," Kakashi said bluntly. "We already have proof that he's been selling secrets, but nothing that would stand up to the law." He smirked under his mask. "Even we shinobi must follow the law while on missions…unless the mission specifically states we must break it. But if it seems that there is no material proof…we must kill him."

"Why not kill him as soon as we get there, the first opportunity?" asked Sasuke.

"Nagasaki is never anywhere outside his home without at least three or four of his bodyguards, and the inside of his home is heavily protected. To kill him as soon as we arrive there would just be screaming for a manhunt. Patience is the greatest asset a shinobi can have. That, plus the fact that he is deathly afraid of disease means he has a physician on staff fulltime at his home. Poisoning him would be dangerous—it is possible for it to be traced, and there is no poison we have that can perfectly simulate a natural death. The only way to kill him is…" He looked directly at Hinata. "…from the inside."

Naruto felt Hinata stiffen beside him. They knew what Kakashi meant as soon as he said it—he was telling Hinata that she would have to use her Juuken to destroy one of his internal organs, a painful way to die indeed.

"But how's she going to get close enough to Juuken him?" Naruto asked, a slight hint of panic in his voice. As strong as Hinata had become in just the past month, as many leaps and bounds as she had made, Naruto didn't think she could kill someone in cold blood like that.

Kakashi closed his one eye and let out a breath, but before he could answer, Sarutobi answered for him. "Nagasaki Bunpei," he said softly, "is a pedophile."

The blood must have drained from his face, the heat from his body, the fire from his soul, because all of a sudden he felt as if he were made of ice. He felt as if the spark that made him _him _was no longer there, as if it had somehow been doused with the weight of despair of all the wretches of the world.

Then it all came rushing back to the blond-headed boy. Suddenly going from fire to ice, his body burned with the flame of a thousand suns. "AW, FUCK NO!" he shouted, standing up so fast his chair flew into the doorway that marked the entrance to the room. "THERE'S NO WAY IN HELL THAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN!" he roared. "NO FUCKING OLD PERVERT IS GOING TO GET HIS HANDS ON MY GIRLFRIEND LIKE THAT, NOT NOW, NOT EVER!"

"Naruto, calm down, will you?" pleaded Sasuke. "Just shut—wait, did you call Hinata your 'girlfriend'?"

"Yeah, I did! Which is why I'm not gonna let her get into that kind of danger!" he said loudly. "There's no way in hell—"

"I'll do it," said Hinata, cutting off Naruto's rant before it could gain another foothold, surprising the boy and grinding him to a halt. "I accept the mission, on behalf of my comrades, Hokage-sama."

"But Hinata—"

"Quiet, Naruto," said Kakashi. "This is her decision to make, and hers alone. If she accepts the mission…there's nothing you can do about it but go along and make sure nothing happens to her. If you care about her—_really _care about her—stop trying to make sure no harm comes to her. She needs you to protect her from harm, not her duty."

Naruto clenched his fists, quivering in rage…but said nothing more. He looked toward Hinata, catching her lavender eye. She held his gaze, even though her own hands were trembling, but not with rage or hatred, but with barely contained fear and trepidation. She nodded ever so slightly, silently begging Naruto to back off. After a long moment, he nodded briskly back at her, not wanting to see the look in her eye—or let her see his.

"Training begins the day after tomorrow at dawn," said Kakashi. "You are to go to the dojo on the basement level of the ANBU barracks where you will meet Gekkou for your training. You won't see me until then—I have my own long-term mission to go on, for the better part of the month. I've already taught you as much as you need to know for now; anything more really would be overkill." He gazed solemnly at the three children before him. "Any questions?"

Naruto's eyes smoldered, but for once held his tongue. Sasuke, however, held up his hand slightly. "Yeah, I have a question," he spoke out. "What are these masks that are going to disguise us? Obviously, they're not exactly normal, right?"

A small smile crept onto the Hokage's lips. "Correct…they're anything _but _normal. It is hard to describe them; merely to show them to you is much more effective." Once again he opened a drawer on his desk and pulled out a long box of polished wood, thicker than his hand and about a foot and a half wide. "In your time as the Sanseirei," he said as he unlatched the box and turned it toward the children to see, "these will be perhaps your most valued tools of all."

Inside of the box were three intricately carved masks made of wood, shaped like what could only be demons of some sort. "These were the masks worn by the two previous incarnations of the Sanseirei," explained the Hokage as he slid the trio of masks toward the Genin. "Nobody knows when they were created, or who created them. They're ancient, far older than Konoha or any of the villages on this continent. It is possible that they date to the time before the first ninjutsu was ever created…but there is strong evidence that it was a shinobi that carved these masks."

There were three of them, one next to the other, resting on plush velvet of red. Two looked like vicious demonic animals, one a large bird with a larger nose, one a crazed dog. The third mask, however, was different—a pale white and blue dragon with and aquiline nose and bright eyes rested between the two demons, like a slice of yang to separate the greater yin.

"They're beautiful," breathed Hinata.

"They're beautiful, yes…but also extremely dangerous. They are not to be taken lightly—they are so much more than simple masks."

"How so?" asked Naruto.

"They are made with a special kind of wood," answered the Hokage. "The very same wood that is used to make chakra paper."

Naruto gasped, as did his partners. Chakra paper, usually used to determine the elemental affinity of a shinobi's chakra, was expensive. That much wood as a mask was nearly priceless. "There's more to it than that, right?" asked Sasuke.

"Of course," said Kakashi. "These masks were the first experiments in the process of demonic sealing, the predecessor of the seals that captured the Kyuubi. As it was the first time in recorded history anybody had attempted to seal demons, they needed some strong medium to hold the demons. That is the origin of chakra wood—it was first used to house captured demons.

"They started small, capturing mere ghosts and sprites and so on. Eventually, the art had been perfected to the point where they could seal the larger demons that plagued them. These three masks are the first A-ranked demons ever captured in such a manner. The Tengu, the protective guardian of the forests and mountains, the Inugami, the vicious protector of its master, and the Mizuchi, the dragon of the sea. These three spirits were sealed in flat blocks of chakra wood, perhaps as long as a thousand years ago. Usually, when minor demons are stored in this wood, some sort of engraving appeared as a relief. These three demons, however…decided to break the rules, so to speak. Of equal power, they were sealed at the same time, in the same place. Joining power, they managed to resist at least part of the spell, not being bound completely in the wood. Instead, these masks were formed, frightening the people that sealed them. The masks were buried in this very box…until about fifty years ago, when they were unearthed by the three shinobi that would become the first incarnation of the Sanseirei."

"Sanseirei," muttered Sasuke. "Three spirits…they named themselves after the masks, didn't they?"

"Exactly," said Sarutobi. "Care to take a guess at what their code names were?"

"Tengu, Inugami, and Mizuchi," the three Genin chorused softly.

"Correct," said Kakashi. "The three spirits sealed within gave the Sanseirei their unique abilities, besides their shinobi skills. The abilities vary from mask to mask, but always gives the wearer incredible power. Besides that, the mask retains any memories from the previous wearer and passes it onto the next. They truly are remarkable artifacts."

"If they're so big and bad, why don't any of our shinobi already wear them?" asked Naruto.

Sarutobi and Kakashi looked at each other again for a long moment. The Hokage nodded his head, making Kakashi sigh. "The masks aren't just masks—or warfare tools. They are conscious, sentient. The demons inside still exist, still notice the outside world. The spirits inside must deem you worthy to wear them before you do so. To attempt to steal them is nothing more than suicide. When you bear the mask, you will be entering into a sort of contract with the spirit—power for power. You will gain abilities you've never even dreamed of, but they may demand certain things in exchange for that power—not unlike how to summon an animal you usually must offer blood."

"What kind of demands?" asked Hinata.

"Anything at all, depending on their whim. The spirits aren't necessarily evil, but they're not benevolent, either. They were captured against their will, but a thousand years in a box made them willing to cooperate. They might want to see a play, or eat a certain food through you, but it isn't unknown for one of them to demand to take over your body for a period of time. A balance must be maintained, and you must be the ones to maintain it."

Naruto looked hard at the mask that most captured his attention, the dog-like spirit, the Inugami. "As powerful as they may be," he said, "how are they going to disguise us? I mean, it'd be pretty conspicuous for four masked samurai suddenly signing up to be bodyguards, won't it?"

Kakashi chuckled. "That's one of the greatest strengths of the masks," he said. "While wearing them, they join with your body, becoming one with you—essentially, it is similar to a parasite joining onto a host. It will be a symbiotic partnership, though—both parties gaining. If the mask deems you worthy, it'll stay with you for a long, long time."

"Until we die, you mean," said Sasuke darkly.

The Hokage chuckled. "Not by any means, no," said the old man. "In fact, two of the second Sanseirei are still alive, the bearers of the Tengu and the Mizuchi. One is now living as a wandering monk, the other a bookkeeper in a village to our south. They retired when their partner died…over twelve years ago."

For the umpteenth time that day, Naruto felt a chill that had nothing to do with the temperature in his environment. "He died in the Kyuubi attack, didn't he?" said Naruto, phrasing it more like a statement than a question.

A full range of emotion flashed through Kakashi's one exposed eye—anger, remorse, regret, hatred. Finally, he said, "He didn't just die in the attack, Naruto…he _sacrificed _himself in the attack to save the village."

Naruto suddenly felt as if the weight of the world had dropped on his shoulders all at once. "Holy…shit…" he said softly, his body nearly paralyzed by the sudden realization of what Kakashi had just said. "The dead Sanseirei…he was the Yondaime, wasn't he?"

The Hokage sighed, and Kakashi once again couldn't meet their eyes. "Yes," said the old man. "He was. When he died…the Sanseirei gave me back their masks. They said they didn't want them anymore, since there weren't three of them to fill the ranks. One of them—Mizuchi—even abandoned her Genin cell to retire and leave the village. The memories were just too painful, she said. Of course, Tengu—over time, he preferred that adopted name to his given one—left as well, but only after his own cell gained the rank of Chuunin and had responsibilities of his own. Both of them left Konoha for good, vowing never to return. I've seen them a few times over the years…but it's never been the same."

Silence rang loudly around the room as Sarutobi finished his short story. "We've got a hell of a legacy to follow, don't we?" said Naruto suddenly.

Sarutobi barked a short laugh at the boy. "Yes, Naruto, you do," he said. "But…I think these are shoes that you are fit to follow." He eyed the boy intensely. "In more ways than one," he said softly to himself.

"Are we going to get the masks today?" asked Hinata.

Kakashi met her eye. "Not today, Hinata. When you complete your training, the day we leave for the mission is when you get your mask. It takes some getting used to, and it'll take a few weeks to walk to the manor where the lord lives. In that time, you can get to know the spirit inside your mask better…trust me, you'll need all the time you can get."

"Any other questions?" barked the Hokage. At the students' silence, he nodded his head. "Dismissed," he said. "And prepare yourself—it'll be a long, long month for the three of you."

* * *

Okay, hope you enjoyed the show my faithful readers. Was it to your satisfaction? Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if some of you dropped Rising Star after this. A lot of revelations came out this time, as well as a little bit of history. Events are set into motion, moving slowly but inevitably toward one goal, the very end, but we can only choose to get off the boat or enjoy the ride.

I suspect some of you are disappointed in me right now. After all, almost all of the other chapters had some action in them, and this had none. All it was was dialogue and storyline. In my defense, though, I couldn't conceivably work much action in without someone getting killed, and that would just suck. I promise, though, if you stick around, there will be action up the wazoo next chapter, and I promise you…there will be blood.

Like I said, the new character appeared in this chapter. She made an appearance as a result of a contest winner. Well guess what? We have a brand new contest here among us! That's right. New contest, new prize. Here's how it goes: the first to guess accurately who the other two of the second generation of Sanseirei will be allowed to be the very first person to read chapter 8 before it is posted, besides my beta of course.

Ok, that's all I have for news and contests. Have a wonderful day everyone.


	8. Revelations

Okay, Chapter 8 is finally up. Yeah, I was procrastinating a little bit with that one, but shut up and read the dang chapter or zombies will eat your brains…with ketchup. Ever eat brains with ketchup?? It's disgusting. BBQ sauce is always better, for sure.

Ok, don't have much at all to report here. I'm pretty proud of the way this turned out. I honestly don't think is my best work—I like the one where Mizuki got his soul stolen by Naruto the best, personally—but everyone says this one is pretty good, so I gotta agree with them, I suppose.

Sorry to say, nobody guessed who the last two Sanseirei were. Poo. I had such high hopes for you, too. Sigh, oh well. Guess better luck next time.

Ok, onto review replies:

**Shinobiscribe: Glad you like this so much. Don't worry about Hinata, she's a tough kid, she'll be ok. Just be patient, and she'll prove herself eventually. Also, the Honoka punishment, I have to say, was one of my better ideas. I rock, bitches.**

KingOfTheInfiniteSky: Yep, the poll is closed. Sorry buddy. He might make an appearance later on, but only as a bit character.

**TimeShifter: I am evil, I thought we'd already established that? As with any relationship, there will be tension somewhere. As people grow up, no matter how much effort they put into their relationship, there will always be some conflict. This is just a stepping stone to some problems down the road. Hope you like.**

**Jens890: Correct on all fronts.**

**Nef: (I usually don't reply to unregistered readers who review, but I believe this one is a special exception). Hope you appreciate the later chapters, buddy. I try my best with all of it. Thanks for sticking through those chapters…really, not my best work. Dialogues won't be so long-winded now that I have a good beta who will proverbially kick my ass if I don't stay on track.**

**Oni no kiri: I like my arms right where they are, thank you very much!**

**GraityTheWizard: Wrong on most points, although thanks for playing. I promise you the previous Sanseirei will be explained, and will have a major part to play later on. This chapter should answer Kushina's fate.**

**RandomCraziness: Yeah, it might have been overkill, but I figured Naruto needed to be brought down to size. Don't forget, this is a kid that has the potential to become godlike eventually. The best way to kill gods is with humility, not steel and stone. I want to keep him humble, even if that means I have to humiliate him once in a while.**

**Forgotten in Shadows: Wrong on everything, but read on and see for yourself!**

**animekingmike: Good to know I have loyal fans like you in here. Appreciate it brutha! Also, I am very against pedophilia of any kind…lolicon is not my kink. But this is a very mature theme I am putting up—and eventually, there will be minors engaging in sexual activity. If someone has a problem with that kind of thing…they shouldn't be reading fics with "Lemon" in the summary.**

**Dragon Man 180: I literally laughed out loud when I read your review. That would be so freakin funny as a fanart, Honoka with an apron with a plate of cookies. Hey, if anyone wants to do that, you have my full support. And as stated above, Hinata's a tough kid, she'll be ok.**

**THE HEE-HO KING: Hinata will be ok. Be faithful.**

**Chronostorm: I'll try to keep it realistic. Everyone will be ok, I promise.**

Ok, while it's on my mind, I have something to say to all you people who say mean, nasty things about me behind my back: I. DON'T. CARE. WHAT. YOU. THINK. Is that clear enough? You can crap on Rising Star all you want, it won't matter to me one way or another. I think this is the fourth time I've said this: Say something constructive or don't say it at all. Or just say how much you love Rising Star (wink wink) if you wanna, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. But stop the hate, ok? I've gotten PMs from five different people saying how much they disliked it—PM'd, not reviews, to protect their identity, mind you. These cowards don't want it known who they are. That really grinds my gears. No, I won't tell anybody who they are, cause a couple of them have some pretty good stories (you know who they are) that I admire, so I won't sink to their level. I hope they're reading this—I digitally kick you in the nuts.

Ok, that's all I have to say. Enjoy Chapter 8, and let me know what you think!

* * *

**Chapter 8**

"Again," said Gekkou Hayate lazily as he sheathed his katana. "And this time," cough cough "try to actually hit me with your sword."

Naruto pulled himself to his feet using his own sword as a crutch. His legs hurt like hell with all the strain that had been put on them in the past two days, in the last few days before the month-long training session came to a close.

"I'm trying," Naruto said as he regained his footing. "It's not my fault if you're such a freaking samurai that someone only a month into the training can't even touch you." Sweat dripped from his brow as he too sheathed his sword. "I mean, come on. Do you honestly expect me to be able to—" He never finished his sentence—instead, he lunged at his sensei nearly faster than the human eye could see, and when he was no more than a single pace away drew his sword from the scabbard and whipped it at the upper torso of Gekkou. The man barely had time to raise his sword in defense before he was slammed by Naruto's chakra-enhanced blow. The impact on his sword sent him skidding across the tatami flooring to bump gently against the wall, leaving two shallow furrows on the floor where his feet had dug in.

Gekkou braced himself for another attack, startled that his student had managed to get the drop on him like that, but no continuance was forthcoming. Instead, Naruto was kneeling on the ground, tip of sword dug into the floor, just managing to stay up from collapse. "Not bad," the man said when he was confident that Naruto really couldn't get back up. "Catching me by surprise and making me drop my guard—you're finally beginning to show some intelligence. While not very samurai-like, exemplary ninja strategy."

He didn't go to help his student up from the floor, however; from the beginning, the three Sanseirei had been told that the only assistance they would be able to expect was drastic medical aid in case of emergency. Besides open wounds, no medic-nin would be treating them for anything—not bruising, not muscle cramps, not contusions. In this world, the realm of the blade, it was do or die—quite literally. Gekkou showed them how to swing a sword, then expected them to be able to make contact with him nearly immediately. Of course, in the beginning they were using blunted swords, but they still hurt like hell when they made contact with flesh.

By the second week, they had been given edged katana, even though their sensei was using a _sakabatō, _a katana with the blade on the reversed edge. After seven consecutive sixteen-hour days of practice, they had the basics down pretty well. Hinata, especially, was showing promise in the kenjutsu arts, quickly being the first to land a blow on their sensei when he had them all team up on him at the same time.

Naruto and Sasuke were at roughly the same level of talent. Sasuke had a little more speed than Naruto, although Naruto had more force behind his blows than Sasuke. When the two sparred together, more often than not it came out to a draw, with the both of them falling to the ground in exhaustion.

Hinata, however, showed much more than speed or strength in swordplay; she showed a prodigious skill unlike either of her partners. She seemed to grasp the concepts much more quickly than Naruto or Sasuke. In her hands, a katana ceased to be a chunk of sharp metal in her hand—it became a beautiful extension of her body, weaving through the air like a fish in water, like a bird in flight. Neither Sasuke or Naruto could stand against her for very long in a spar. Somehow, she knew exactly how to move the blade to the most advantageous positions to get inside the guard of any opponent, whether it be Naruto, Sasuke, or Gekkou himself.

Gekkou seemed amazed at her startling ability. Although he never fought all-out while he was training with the fledgling Sanseirei, he never could help but be dumbfounded by Hinata's natural ability. He had gone so far as to order her not to spar with Naruto or Sasuke with an edged blade, regulating her to one of the duller models. If she was to slip—a real danger, as she hadn't gotten to the point where she could hold back more than push forward—she could very easily hurt them…perhaps even kill them. In this way, she was supreme amongst the three.

These thoughts flashed briefly as Gekkou Hayate watched Naruto fall deliberately into a kneeling position before him, his sheathed sword flat before him. He nodded, flicking a hand to the spot in front of him, indicating to Hinata and Sasuke, who were watching the exchange the whole time to take their places beside Naruto. They knelt, heads bowed, Sasuke to Naruto's left, Hinata to his right. They knelt there for a full minute with Gekkou staring at them, not saying a word. If they had looked, however, they would have seen the slight twitch in the man's hand…the hand that had been holding the sword that Naruto had struck his own against. He could become powerful…very powerful, thought the Tokubetsu Jounin. Given a year, he could surpass me. Not Hinata, perhaps, but me, for certain. He didn't express his thoughts, though. Instead, he addressed his pupils.

"You have all" cough cough "grown this past month, far more than I would have guessed. Naruto, Sasuke, you two could use some work, but you're well on you way to" cough cough "being expert swordsmen. Hinata, you've progressed much further than imaginable in such a short time. Between the three of you, I doubt very much so that you'll have any trouble at" cough cough "posing as apprentice samurai."

He then sighed. "Your training is over, you three. I'm cutting your time with me by a few days, but there's nothing I can teach you in just three days that wouldn't be a bother."

He turned his eye to Naruto. "You need to work a bit more on your battōjutsu some more, Naruto. If you hadn't caught me by surprise like you did, I'd have been able to beat you back easily."

Naruto smirked. "But I _did _manage to win the match, didn't I?" he asked.

Gekkou huffed. "…Yes, you did," he eventually said to Naruto's delight. "But don't count on luck in the future. Any enemy you draw your sword on won't give you the chance to surprise them—they'll cut you down faster than you can blink…sometimes literally.

"That's all I have to say. I am your sensei no longer, until" cough cough "the Hokage wishes otherwise. In three days you leave for your mission. Until then, relax. Rest some. I really don't care. I've got a mission tomorrow, and I need to be briefed." With those abrupt final words, he left the kenjutsu hall, opening and closing the sliding door behind him as he left the three on their knees, looking triumphantly at each other.

"Dear God in heaven," Naruto sighed as he lowered himself into the onsen reserved for ANBU on the eastern edge of the compound. "I do believe that this bath is worth all the pain and misery that we have gone through these past two months. Ooohhh," he moaned as he fully submerged his body, leaving only his head above water. "I know I'll look like a lobster when this is all over, but I don't fucking care. I _earned _this."

Sasuke snorted, sliding away from the sprawling blonde. "Enjoy all you want, dobe, just stop rubbing into me in the bath." He smirked, signaling a heavy cut coming Naruto's way. "Hinata just might get jealous over there."

A startled splash came from the other side of the bamboo wall separating the onsen. "H-how did you know I was here," she stammered, momentarily falling back into her old persona.

"I'm a freaking _ninja,_ Hinata," he said, the humor thick in his voice. "Water splashing would be a good clue…and seeing as it's nearly one in the morning and everybody who's not on patrol is asleep, that leaves only you as a suspect."

"Ah—yes, you're right, Sasuke-kun," she said.

"Of _course _I'm right," he retorted. "I always am, aren't I? Don't answer that," he said before Naruto could get his own thoughts on the matter in.

"Just be quiet, guys," Naruto said as his muscles slowly began to relax. "You're ruining the moment."

"Idiot," muttered Sasuke, but didn't say more as he too relaxed into the hot spring. They heard Hinata quietly settling into her own side of the pool, moaning softly as she lowered her body into the steaming water. They sat there for the better part of an hour, merely soaking the onsen's water into their system, releasing in one go all the tension of the past month of training.

Naruto was actually dozing off in the steam when he heard a whisper from the other side of the onsen, the side where Hinata was. "_Byakugan,_"he heard Hinata mutter.

_Now why would she activate the Byakugan over here? _Naruto thought. That didn't make any sense. The only reason she would use her kekkai genkai at the onsen was…

_Oh my god, _he thought as his face turned red at the realization of the situation. _She's __looking over here!_ he thought, embarrassed that she would see him naked like this. _That's underhanded! _he thought with a scowl on his face. _Well…if she wants to look, let her look. I'll make her pay for it later, though, for sure__…_

_…Or maybe now. _A brilliant idea popped into his head in a flash. "Hey, Sasuke," he said casually. "Wake up. If you're gonna fall asleep, do it in bed. It's really dangerous sometimes to conk out in hot water you know."

The raven-haired Uchiha yawned widely and stretched his arms to the sides. "Yeah, you're probably right," he grumbled. He gained his footing on the onsen bottom and stood up, water falling off his naked body, drops of water beading all over him. A muffled _eep! _sounded from the female onsen, although Sasuke seemed to not notice it. He wrapped a nearby towel around his waist and made his way to the clothing room. "You coming?" he asked as he stepped completely out of the water.

"Nah," Naruto said. "I'll stick around for a bit; I'm not tired at all. You go on, I'll go to bed in a little while."

Sasuke shrugged. "Suit yourself," he grumbled as he stalked off. "Turn into a prune, see if I care."

A moment later the onsen was isolated save for Naruto and Hinata. The sound of the simmering water filled the air, the light hiss of steam wafting through the area on a cooler breeze providing background noise for the two young shinobi. They sat together, separated by the bamboo wall for a while, each lost in their own thoughts as they waited for the other to say something.

_Damn, _Naruto thought as he shifted his body, feeling water slip into a certain crevice that had been unconsciously clenched. _Is she gonna say something? Should I? What exactly is the proper etiquette when your girlfriend is naked about three feet from you like this? I'm gonna talk to her, I can't stand this anymore!_

"Hinata—"

"Naruto—"

They both started, then giggled for a moment before they calmed down. "You go first," Hinata chuckled as water sloshed on her end.

"No, no, you go," said Naruto. "Ladies first, and all that, ya know." He grinned ear to ear, a laugh just waiting to escape from his chest. Finally, after two months of tension, he was finally going to be able to get things out in the open with Hinata. He had run through the speech he wanted to make a thousand times in his head, always trying to think of something he could say that would tell her just how he felt about her. Unfortunately, mere words couldn't express his thoughts, his emotions. Sometimes, at night, during that three-week long ban he had been under, Hinata crept into his dreams like a thief in the night…a thief after his heart, that is, though Naruto would _never _say those words aloud to anyone in the world—except, perhaps, for Hinata herself.

Since the incident with the damned fox just after graduation, Naruto had noticed some rather…_odd _changes in his body that had nothing to do with the beastial side-effects of the demonic possession. His body was beginning to mature at a somewhat more accelerated rate than usual. Although still young, having just turned twelve years old mere days before graduation, his body was going through the first stages of puberty…six days after the Mizuki incident. Pubic hair rapidly began to grow, his voice had dropped in timbre just a little bit, becoming just a tad more raspy, although he was spared the embarrassment of growing facial hair at such an early age.

Maybe the fox's chakra had something to do with it, or perhaps it was the vulpine physiology affecting him—after all, foxes mature much faster than humans. Whatever the reason, he was effectively a fully grown, working part miniature adult. He had even grown another inch in the elapsed time, surpassing Sasuke in height in the process, to his chagrin.

Something that Naruto had never thought he'd have to deal with was a certain early-morning syndrome that many men had to deal with…morning wood. While training with Gekkou, the three Sanseirei slept in the same room together with their swords at their sides. More than once, he had dreamt things that weren't…exactly rated PG-13. The worst part of it all was when the wet dreams came around in the middle of the night and he had to change the sheets on his pallet before the other two woke up from their slumbers. _That _was embarrassing as hell.

And now…Naruto was sitting _naked _so very close to the object of his desires…the urge to jump over there was almost overwhelming. He blamed it on the fox; all he was interested in was sex sometimes. But he was sealed—locked inside of him with no way to express himself. It couldn't be the demon.

Naruto wanted Hinata. Then and there.

He had to have her.

"Naruto," Hinata said after a moment. "I…I just wanted to say how much you mean to me. I-I mean, you already know I love you and all, of course I love you! I-I just mean…" She sighed deeply. "I can't say this through a wall. I'm coming over…hold on a moment…" A splash from her side of the onsen alerted Naruto that she had submerged into the steaming water. A few seconds later, he saw a dark shape make its way under the bamboo wall that separated the onsen.

Hinata breached the water slowly, about five feet from the end of Naruto's legs. First the top of her head came up, dark hair swirling through the water like miniature snakes writhing in the steamy water. As the rest of her head became exposed, her eyes locked onto Naruto's as irrevocably as an anchor on the bed of the ocean. Her nose came above water, then her lips…then she stopped.

"Hey," Naruto said, a slight stammer in his voice as he just stared at the light of his world. Not for the first time, he realized that he was totally naked…and so was she. Though the water was foggy with heat, he could see the stark white of her skin below the surface. He felt the blood rush through his body, felt his heart with every beat as his internal systems went haywire. What was happening to him? Was he sick?

"N-Naruto-kun," she said after a few seconds. "Can I…come over to you?"

The implications of what she was saying weren't lost on the boy. "Um…of course!" he said. "I mean, um, yeah." They both chuckled at the tension, instantly dissolving it at the basest level. Suddenly, there was no awkwardness, nothing separating them but distance.

She slunk forward, creating a miniature wake in her progress, slow as it was. Suddenly there she was, her nose inches from Naruto's, her head still the only thing above water, her eyes level with his chest but still holding his captive. "Hey beau—" He was about to say "beautiful" but was interrupted by her mouth smashing against his and wrestling for possession of his tongue in a fiery kiss like none other before.

"Hmm," he moaned into her mouth as he reciprocated the kiss, advancing his own way past her lips. He put his left hand to her face, gently caressing her cheek, her jaw, as their lips and tongues battled for dominance against each other…a battle that neither could ever actually lose.

The other hand found its way to her shoulder, which had come above water when she assaulted his mouth with her own. It went to her neck, gently pressing her even tighter to his mouth, then traveled down, inch by inch until his fingers were between her shoulder blades…then they encountered some resistance. Momentarily shocked out of his passion, Naruto abruptly broke the physical connection, backing up just an inch or so. He looked down at the body of Hinata, shocked to see a towel wrapped around her torso that had almost the same exact hue her body did.

_Well, what did you expect? One of your dreams to come true? _Naruto's internal dialogue sometimes really got on his nerves. Naruto growled lightly, partly out of frustration and partly from lust for this beautiful, energetic… Naruto couldn't think of enough words to describe her adequately. And she was nearly sitting on top of him…nearly naked…in the middle of the night… The possibilities were endless.

Hinata's eyes scrunched together. "Is something wrong?" she asked, concern heavy in her voice as she shifted to sit next to him in the heat. "D-did I do something wrong?"

Naruto chuckled as he pulled Hinata in closer to his side…taking great care not to make contact with _certain _parts of his anatomy. He didn't want to force anything onto her, much as his libido screamed against his restraint. He knew that he was making the right decision in patience, although it wasn't exactly a comfortable decision with the various voices in his head telling him to take her now. "No, no, you did nothing wrong," he said softly into her ear. "You're perfect, you know."

She giggled, a blush coming to her cheeks. "No, I'm not," she sang lightly, "but you can think so if you want to!"

Naruto laughed along with her, nestling his face into her sodden hair. "So," he said, "there was something you wanted to say to me?"

She rested her head on his chest, relaxing on him completely. "Actually…I think I already have my answer." She sighed gently, humming simultaneously, lightly tickling Naruto's chest. He laughed a little bit, flexing his pec to make her stop. This just egged her on; she slowly moved her mouth across his chest, increasing the level of her hum as she moved up and down his smooth, bare chest.

Suddenly, her lips were at his nipple. Without hesitation, she parted her lips and enveloped the button inside of her velvety mouth, reducing the hum, but not quite extinguishing it.

The whole of Naruto's upper body spasmed and twitched under her ministrations; never in his life had he felt anything like this. This was like…actually, Naruto couldn't even begin to think of something to compare this to. It was an entirely new realm of pleasure, an unexplored area of intimacy between him and Hinata. In his whole young life, Naruto had never expected to be in such a state, with someone he trusted with all his heart. He had never thought that he'd be able to be so close to any other human being, allow himself to become so vulnerable so willingly. Naruto knew why it was possible, though, deep down in the bottom of his heart: this was a woman who was in love with him, mind, body, and soul, young though she may be.

And he loved her. To the end of the universe and back.

Something clicked in his mind, then and there: _I love her, _he thought. _I really, really love her._ Before, he had said these words to her, but there had always been that little corner in the back of his mind that whispered to him, _Do you mean it? _In an instant, in a flash, Naruto could once and for all tell that grain of doubt in his subconscious to shut the hell up.

_I love her, _he said to all his doubt, effectively extinguishing it. _I don't exactly know why…or for how long…but it really is love._

He brought his body under control, halting the muscular twitches in his chest—they were distracting Hinata from her "work" with her lips. _Where did she learn this stuff? _he asked himself as another wave of ecstasy rolled over him. Her tongue was now in action on his chest, flicking lightly on the tip of his nipple. He shivered, goose bumps miraculously appearing despite the heat of the onsen.

Naruto cupped Hinata's face gently, circling his thumb slowly on her temple. After a few more moments of nipple-play, she finally disengaged her lips from his chest. She looked to his eyes, catching his cerulean orbs and making them hers. "Naruto," she whispered softly as Naruto placed a hand on each cheek as he angled his head for another kiss. This kiss was much more tame than the first one, not so much as grinding as a long, warm connection between those meant to be together.

"I love you," they said simultaneously, each expressing their true hearts to each other. They smiled, for they both knew it was true love—forever and ever. He held her close to him, pressing her body against his. And for now, it was enough merely to be together.

The next day passed by in a blur—after a couple months of near-continuous training, and a full month of hell with katana, it was good for the three Sanseirei to get some fresh air without the fear that someone was about to poke you with a sharp piece of metal at any given point.

After a month-long ban from the village proper while isolated with Gekkou, the Ichiraku was beginning to worry about their favorite blond-haired dynamo. After returning to the ramen stand the first time, Ayame had hoped that Naruto would be more of a regular customer than before. He had been every four or five days after graduation, but then suddenly stopped coming for a solid month. In the shinobi world, people could disappear…or die…without anyone knowing about it for months, or even years. Genuine concern was beginning to gnaw at the girl, and it was starting to affect her performance at the stand.

The day began just as any other in Konoha for Ayame; rising early in the morning, mixing the pre-measured ingredients prepared the night before for the home-made ramen that was so popular with the customers, and preparing the ramen stand for another busy day. By this time, Naruto had become a regular topic of thought for her during the day, often distracting her from her work. Even in the very short time he had come back, she had begun to think of him as a little brother, someone to protect. If he had gotten hurt…or worse…she didn't know how she would take it.

The Ichiraku stand was mere moments from opening. Even though it was the beginning of the winter months, the weather outside was still balmy—it hadn't gained the name of "Fire Country" for nothing, after all. Due to wind currents and their relatively close proximity to the deserts of Wind Country, a land nearly overrun with deserts, Konoha and the land around it almost never had to worry about the cold.

"Are you ready?" Ayame's father, Teuchi, asked her.

She smiled a warm smile at him. "Ready as always," she replied.

The older man had a worried look on his face. "You're still thinking about him, huh?" he asked his daughter.

She gasped and put a had to her mouth. "I don't…I mean I…stop getting inside my head!" she shouted as she swatted at his head with a rolling pin.

He laughed as he easily dodged the spontaneous weapon. "I can't help it, you're my daughter!" he exclaimed as he backed up to a safe distance. "And besides," he said more somberly, "I'm beginning to worry about the little guy too." He sighed as he washed his hands. "I sure hope he's ok," he said as he began to toss noodles into the cooking vat.

"Haha, who knows?" said Ayame. "Maybe he'll come in today! I wouldn't put it past him. With that stomach of his, he'll smell your new recipe from a mile away!"

Teuchi grinned. "He'd come back from the dead for this new stock of mine, I guarantee it!"

Ayame chuckled, punching her father lightly on his shoulder. "Yeah, he would, wouldn't he? I'm gonna go open up now, ok?" She walked to the bar area of the shop and pulled up the curtains, pleased to see that there was already a few people waiting for their home-style cooking. "Welcome to the Ichiraku!" she said brightly. "Now who's hungry?"

Before anybody could say a word, a commotion from down the street caught everybody's attention. A dust cloud rose from around the corner, obscuring the view of the Hokage Monument. Then another cloud lazily made its way to the sky…then another, coming ever closer to the shop.

Before five or six seconds had passed, the cause of the clamor made itself known; someone was racing down the street at a recklessly high speed, avoiding everything and everyone in the road but kicking up enough dirt to eclipse the better half of the village.

Ayame felt her heart skip a beat—was the village under attack? Was someone running from someone else? Terror gripped Ayame as the human blur came closer and closer to the Ichiraku stand. Ninety…eighty…seventy feet away he was, closing the distance alarmingly fast.

Fifty…forty…thirty feet away, she could see details of the person in the street. Bright blond hair, spiky and bright. Electric blue eyes that shone even through the haze, captivating her vision and attention in a vice-like grip. "Naruto!" she exclaimed excitedly as he broke out into a grin and, if possible, added a layer of speed that hadn't been there and instant before.

Twenty feet away, he abruptly stopped running and planted his feet into the ground, skidding to a halt all the way to his usual seat at the Ichiraku. The other patrons who had been there were instantly covered in a fine layer of dirt and dust.

"Hey, Ayame!" Naruto shouted, even though he was only a few feet away from the stand. "Pork ramen, and keep it coming!"

Ayame just grinned and ran to get his order. _Dad's gonna love this!_

Naruto sighed contentedly as he lay back down in his bed for the first time all day. After gorging himself on ramen for breakfast, he, Hinata, and Sasuke spent most of the rest of the day together. Originally, Naruto had planned on it just being him and Hinata, but the raven-haired avenger surprised the both of them by inviting himself. He said it was because he didn't have anything else to do that day and was bored, but both Hinata and Naruto suspected it had more to do with a growing attachment to the two of them rather than boredom.

For the most part, besides occasional snacks, they just walked around Konoha, Naruto and Hinata surreptitiously but openly holding hands, Sasuke hanging back a few feet but still within speaking distance.

Of course, they got some interesting stares from other pedestrians. All three of them had easily recognizable faces; Sasuke as the last Uchiha, Hinata as a Hyuuga, and of course Naruto as the host for the Kyuubi. Some people made a double take when they saw Naruto, though—in the past two months, he had drastically changed, both in body and in face. Gone were the remaining childish features from his past. He was more…mature. More adult.

One particular event stuck in Naruto's mind above most others of that day: the three were walking through the marketplace in the center of the village, just browsing through the shops, when a main branch Hyuuga noticed them. She saw them as they were walking out of a clothing store, but before she could say anything to Hinata something else tore her attention away. Naruto was the only one to see her, and while she was distracted directed his compatriots in another direction. He had heard from the ANBU that Hiashi wanted word immediately if one of his house found Hinata, and didn't want to cause a scene on his day off.

It bothered Naruto somewhat that he was hiding in his own village from some of the people that he was, in theory at least, one day supposed to protect, but he just shrugged it off as he walked. If he had a confrontation with one of them, he might lose his temper—something that could prove disastrous for all involved. Controlling his anger was one of the things he still had to work on, although he had made some great strides in the past couple months…especially when he got mad at someone who could beat him into the ground if he went too far.

Naruto winced at some of the memories from his two-month long introduction to hell as he relaxed into his mattress, nude except for a pair of shorts. The night outside was peaceful, calm, and quiet. It was rather late at night, as he and Hinata had taken dinner at a fancier restaurant than he usually patronized. After that, they went to a movie about some princess and her warriors, then just went for a walk around the village, saying nothing to each other in a silence that spoke volumes.

_Life is good,_ thought Naruto as he crossed his arms behind his head as a pigeon flew past his window. _Nothing can fuck this up today._

KNOCK KNOCK

Naruto growled lowly. _Every time I lay down in this bed, _he grumbled as he sat up, _someone wants me out of it. _"Yeah, who is it?" he asked as he pulled on a pair of discarded pants.

"The Hokage wants to see you, Naruto-kun," came a familiar voice from outside the door.

"H-Honoka-chan?" he yawned. "Come on in. What are you doing up this late?" He glanced at his clock; it showed half past midnight.

"I just got back from a mission," she said as she opened the door. She still had on her ANBU mask, the likeness of a wolf. "I made my report to the Hokage, and asked how you were doing." She grinned as she ruffled his hair. "I missed you, kiddo. Anyway, he asked me to check in on you when I got back to the barracks and see if you were awake. If you were—and you are—he wanted me to send you down to his office. Sounds important, I think. Anyway, you might wanna get you cute little ass over there before he sends any more of the goon squad to get ya."

Naruto blushed as he chuckled with her. "I missed you too, Honoka-chan," he said as he pulled a shirt randomly out of his closet—one of the ones he had gotten before graduation, a black tank top with a neon white Leaf symbol on the back.

"What's not to miss?" she jested as she struck a pose, making Naruto laugh again.

"No idea," Naruto said as he slipped his sandaru on and made his way out the door. He stopped suddenly and went back to Honoka. He grabbed her mask and pushed it up so it was resting on her head and kissed her impishly on the cheek. Before she could recover from the shock, he laughed yet again and raced down the hall, wishing he could see the look on her face, but knowing Honoka would want to murder him the first chance she could get.

Naruto once again slipped into the Hokage's office through the secret ANBU door. The room was lit, but dim. The old man himself was sitting behind his desk, ceremonial robes doffed in favor of more comfortable attire. Surprisingly, neither Hinata or Sasuke were in the room already.

Sarutobi, of course, noticed Naruto's entrance even while looking at the one eternal enemy of all, the battle no Kage would ever win: paperwork. It took mountains and mountains of paperwork to keep a shinobi village such as Konoha running smoothly, and it was times like these he wished he had a secretary he could trust to just do the damned work for him. "Ah, Naruto," he said as he dropped the pen he held onto the desk and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I take it you got young Honoka's message?"

"Of course, Hokage-sama. I wouldn't dream of interrupting you otherwise," Naruto responded.

The old man nodded. "Of course, of course. Thank you for coming so quickly; I have something important to discuss with you…something I believe you should know before tomorrow."

Naruto's eyes scrunched in confusion. "Tomorrow? You mean the masks? I thought that wasn't going to be until a couple days from now, at the earliest?"

The Hokage grunted. "When Gekkou came to me with the news that your training had finished, I made arrangements for the mission to be accelerated. This really is important, you must understand. If I were to use any of the other shinobi I have—many of whom are far stronger than you, even now, Naruto—there would be _some _record of their—and my—involvement. The Sanseirei are black-op, however…no record, no trace. You don't exist, you never were." The man smiled. "Not that _you _don't exist, you know. But the face you will be adopting will be unknown to anyone here in the village…and that is the entire point."

Naruto sighed. "You're right, of course," he said, "but shouldn't we wait for Hinata and Sasuke to be talking about this? I mean, they're a part of this just as much as I am, right?"

The Hokage's steady gaze held Naruto's for a few moments. "Naruto," he finally said after a somewhat uncomfortable silence, "I have already sent messages to them. You three will meet me in the courtyard of your barracks at seven in the morning to acquire your masks…but I have something to talk to you about in private, without the other two around."

Naruto was suddenly much more interested in the conversation now than he was before. "What's going on?" he asked guardedly.

Sarutobi folded his hands together, closed his eyes, then rested his chin on his exposed knuckles. It looked as if for a moment that he was praying, but to whom or what Naruto hadn't the foggiest idea. "Naruto," he said softly, "have you ever wondered who your parents were?"

The force of the words struck the boy like a physical blow. Suddenly, he felt as if all the air was being slowly sucked out of his lungs by an irresistible force, as if the temperature in the room was being lowered much more quickly than any human could stand. At once, his breath caught in his throat and his heartbeat doubled. He began to feel lightheaded, and was forced to sit down in the chair before the desk just so he didn't fall to the floor.

"Naruto? Are you all right?" the old man asked, genuine concern in his voice for his soldier.

"I—I'm fine, Sarutobi-sama," Naruto said, using a slightly more familiar term for his Hokage. "I just got a little dizzy, that's all. I wasn't expecting something like that to come up."

Sarutobi's expression softened just a little bit. "It's ok, Naruto," he said. "I understand. Take your time."

"I-I'm ok, I really am," Naruto said as he straightened his back and met Sarutobi's gaze. Breathing control was one of the first things he had learned in the academy; his body was back under control. "What about my parents?" he finally asked after a moment. "Sure, I've wondered about them sometimes. Who wouldn't? It's been bugging me on and off over the years. Sometimes I wonder who they were, yeah, but I always eventually realize that my parents aren't what makes me _me._ I am what make me the person I am. Would I like to know their identity? Of course, I would. But I don't think it really matters, one way or another. I've lived all my life without them; I think I can do ok on my own from here on out."

The Hokage slowly nodded. "Very…_mature _of you, Naruto," he said. "But you're wrong on one count."

Naruto grunted. "And what would that be?" he asked.

"Your parents—or at least _one _of them—can, and _does _define the person you are, Naruto. Your father, Naruto…"

The old man stopped. Unexpectedly, Naruto was extremely impatient to hear the truth from the old man. Somehow…he _knew _it was more important now than ever to hear who his father was.

"Naruto," Sarutobi said after a tense moment. "I want you to swear to me that you will not hate me for keeping this information from you for all this time."

"Wha…? Hokage-sama, I could nev—"

"_Swear it!_" he hissed.

Naruto's face contorted slightly. What was going on here? "Hokage-sama," he said carefully, "you are my master. I could no more hate you than hate myself. I swear to you, no matter what you say to me, I will not hate you."

Some relief came to Sarutobi's face. "Thank you, Naruto. I feel relieved you feel that way. Your oath, I assure you, will be tested. Naruto…your father was one of the greatest men I have ever known. He was a hero who saved our village on more than one occasion…the greatest act of bravery this world has ever known was made by him. I feel honored to have known a man of his integrity, his power. Naruto…your father was the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato."

Time stopped for Naruto right then, stretching an instant into an eternity. His father…the Fourth? No…it wasn't possible. He was lying, he had to be. Naruto had always been told his parents had been killed in the Kyuubi attack on his…_birthday._

_Oh my god,_ Naruto thought. _That's how he chose me to be the home of the fox. He couldn't take any other kids…he was too good a man to curse another child to the fate. He chose me…his _son.

"Please…tell me you're joking," Naruto whispered. "You're joking, right? The Yondaime…My father? This can't be happening. This can't be…"

"Naruto," said Sarutobi, "I assure you, it is the truth. Minato was your father, I swear to you. Whatever else you may wish to believe, it is the truth."

Naruto suddenly felt a rush of energy flow through his body. "The truth? _The truth?! _All my life I was told my parents were killed by the Kyuubi along with everyone else. Nobody told me that my father was the most powerful man in the shinobi world! Why was this kept from me all this time? And while we're at it, what happened to my mother? Was she killed by the bastard fox too, or did she just run away from me, the hell-spawn? _Answer me, damn you!_"

The Hokage's eyes instantly grew flinty. "Calm down, Naruto," he said slowly. "Calm down, and listen. You gave your oath not to be angry. Give me a chance to explain before you take your wrath out on me. If you still think I deserve your hatred when you know the whole story, then hate me. Despise me. _Revile _me, even. But _not _before I've had my say."

Naruto didn't realize that he had stood up from his chair until he sat back down. He crossed his arms and threw his glare at the old man. "Talk, then," he barked. "Give me your side of the story."

The old man sighed and pulled out his pipe. He lit the leaves in the bowl and inhaled deeply a few times before speaking. "You know," he began softly, "I never used to smoke until I retired and handed over the Hokage office over to Minato. I'd spent all my life trying to stay healthy, stay strong. I'd seen what the long-term effects of smoking were on some people…I never wanted to do that to myself. When all the responsibility was taken off of my shoulders, however, I thought I'd indulge myself a little bit. I took up the habit, and within months I was hooked." He chuckled softly, as if remembering a distant memory. "Funny, isn't it? Not more than a year after Minato became Hokage, the greatest we've ever had…it was time for me to go back to work." He blew a smoke ring at the ceiling. "Funny how life works, isn't it?"

He fell silent, merely puffing on the pipe. Naruto was bursting to shout out, but he knew it would get him nowhere. For the moment he was patient, but he didn't know how much more he could stand. Luckily, his patience wasn't tested as the old man continued his story.

"I suppose the easiest part of the story should come first: What happened to your mother? I'm afraid, Naruto, that she died giving birth to you. The fox's attack knocked out the power grid, killing most of the machines in the hospital. There were only regular doctors there at the time, no medic-nin—they were all down at the battlefield, saving the shinobi they could. Even with drugs and emergency equipment, it was impossible to save her. I'm sorry."

Naruto hissed in a breath. "I…it's ok, Sarutobi-sensei," he said. "I always thought it might've been something like that."

The old man smiled just a tiny little bit. "Trust me, Naruto," he said. "It never gets easy to lose the ones you love. And she loved you and your father so very, very much.

"Now, your other questions—why weren't you told Minato was your father? Why were you lied to all these years? The sad truth is, it was all for your own personal safety. Naruto, you have to believe me, if I was honest with you from the start, there is a very good chance that you'd be dead already."

"Huh? Why? Who would want to kill me? Well, besides the obvious, I mean."

"In his career as a shinobi, especially during the war with the Rock, he gained many enemies, both personal and political. Have you any idea whatsoever how many people he killed during the war? How many lives he single-handedly took? He was the only one of our warriors to ever be classified an SS-class shinobi—'Flee on sight.' He wasn't a god, or anything like it, but on the battlefield he was untouchable, in the most literal sense of the word. In all the time I knew him, I have never known him to ever be injured by an enemy shinobi. Many of his enemies—both foreign and in Konoha itself—would have jumped at the chance to kill his only son.

"He was a genius, too, as a matter of fact. He knew nearly twice as many jutsu as required to become Hokage by the time he was twenty-five. He seemed to have a memory just made for memorizing jutsu, to the point where he had the unhidden respect of all the Uchiha, the masters of copying techniques. He also was brilliant at creating brand new techniques and adapting old ones—a trait I believe that you have picked up on your own.

"But even that wasn't his true strength—not the half of it," he went on. "Minato was the greatest master of the sealing arts this world has ever seen—this is an undisputable fact. The seal that trapped Kyuubi inside of you was created in a mere three _days._ It's taken eleven years of study for me to understand just _half _of it. And that half…it scares the shit out of me, Naruto. The amount of skill used to make the three seals on your belly act in conjunction without clash is truly mind-boggling. The fact that you survived the sealing process relatively unscathed is a testament to his great skill."

"So…he was basically the ultimate shinobi?" Naruto asked.

The old man chuckled. "Well…in a way, yes, he was. But he was by no means infallible. While a tremendous warrior, unmatched on the battlefield, he was far too trusting. It was that trust that nearly resulted in his death, and possibly the death of his teammates—the other two Sanseirei. If it wasn't for a stroke of luck—the help of his future wife and your mother—he would have died, and you'd never have been born."

"Luck? What are you talking about? There's a story behind this, old man."

Said old man just laughed softly. "There is, and it is quite interesting, for a fact," he said. "But the hour is late, and you have an early morning tomorrow. I hope…I hope you and your mask get along. Remember, it is a sentient being, a real demon inside of the mask. Do not underestimate it, and do not anger it. Work with it, and give it what it wants when it asks for it. It will be your partner as long as you are with it, so it'll be in your best interests to make it happy."

"Yes, Sarutobi-sama," Naruto said. "Um, Hokage-sama…there's something I want to know about, if it isn't too presumptuous to ask for."

"Hmm? Yes, what is it?" answered Sarutobi.

"Well…did my father leave me anything? I mean, I'm not greedy or anything," Naruto stammered, "but it'd be nice to know more about him, about who he was and all. Did he come from a clan, do I have any family? Do I have a home to go to? I don't want to live in the ANBU headquarters forever, you know what I mean?"

Sarutobi smiled as he picked up his still-smoking pipe and took a puff. "I understand, Naruto. Yes, he left you quite an inheritance. I'll make sure you get everything that's owed to you upon your return to Konoha."

"Thank you, Hokage-sensei," Naruto said sincerely.

"You're welcome, my child. Now, to bed," he said with a smile upon his ancient lips. "You have a long day tomorrow…one you're not likely to forget.

The dawn broke as silently as ever in Konoha. Even though Konoha was a warm village year-round, the mornings this close to winter were almost without exception numbingly chilly. Naruto stood huddled with Sasuke and Hinata by the southwest corner together, each in a light jacket but still shivering in the cold. They had been awake for an hour already, the three of them to the man pissed that their short vacation had been cut even shorter.

There was an undercurrent of excitement, however, that none of them could deny—the legendary masks that granted the previous Sanseirei their abilities and power were to become theirs on this day. The demons inside of the sacred wood were powerful, almost beyond belief. That they were to be trusted with that much power…either the old man _really _trusted them to bear the masks, or there was something going on and he would eventually need the firepower they represented.

The sky was still lightening from the long night when Kakashi arrived on the training ground, followed closely by Sarutobi and eight ANBU. With a flick of his wrist, he sent the ANBU to their stations; one on each corner and one on the center of the wall, with one standing in the middle of the pond in lieu of wall.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, Hokage-sama," Naruto greeted. "What's with all the extra firepower?" he asked, indicating the ANBU.

"They are all trusted soldiers of mine, most of whom have been with me for years," he said. "They have my complete trust. They might not know exactly what's going on, but I trust them to keep their mouths shut about this. All they are doing is making sure that nobody will interrupt you while you are…getting to know your demon. Or, in your case, Hinata, your higher spirit. The dragon isn't exactly from demon stock—I'll just let her explain it to you. If I'm right, of course, that is the mask for you." He smiled as if remembering some joke. "Yes…I do believe I am right."

"Um…whatever you say, Hokage-sama," said Hinata.

The Hokage smiled sagely. "Now, my children…it is time." The three Genin knew what he meant without having to discuss it—the moment that they had been waiting for for two months was upon them. The air around them took on an atmosphere of tension that had been wound so tight that just the smallest flutter could make it uncoil into a fit of chaos.

He reached into his robe and pulled out the long polished box stowed inside of it. He undid the clasp and slowly, reverently, opened the lid and turned the contents toward the three promised children. "You know what you are about to embark on," Sarutobi said. "Once you put on the mask, there is no turning back. This will be your life, your legacy. Until you don the mask that you choose—or chooses you—you still have a chance to go back to your normal life. Only if you are willing to dedicate your life to this task, mind, body, and soul, are you to place this mask on your face. If you have any misgivings at all, back out now. You might not survive the application, I am afraid."

Naruto spoke for all three. "Sir," he said with a calm that belied his internal excitement. "We wouldn't be here if we weren't willing to do what you've just said—dedicate our lives to you. We are your soldiers, your shinobi." He took a step forward, Hinata on his left, Sasuke just on the other side of her. He placed a hand on the mask that he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt was meant for him, that of the sealed guardian dog, the Inugami. He felt an electric rush flow through him as his fingers made contact with the blue-lined ebony grain, and knew instantly that the other two felt the same thing he did. This was exactly what they were supposed to be doing; this was right on some primal level.

He picked up the mask, marveling at how light it was in his hands. The level of detail was intricate; the bared teeth of the dog almost seemed as if it would reach out and bite him. There were no eyeholes in the mask, but Naruto didn't worry about that; everything would work out in the end. He turned it around so that he was looking at the inside of the mask, realizing that the inside was just as intricately carved as the outside. He then realized that the mask wasn't carved at all; this was the physical manifestation of the demon Inugami when it was sealed. A sudden thrill went through him—he realized that he was about the meet the demon inside of the mask, a demon just a step down from the Kyuubi himself…and he wasn't afraid.

"Hokage-sama," he said as he inched the mask closer and closer to his face. "We…are the Sanseirei!" He felt the cool wood make contact with his face. For a split second, nothing happened—then the coolness turned to burning heat as the wood seemed to melt into his face and wrap around and through his skin.

The screaming had begun.

Kyuubi no Kitsune was seriously, royally pissed. This condition was near-perpetual for the demonic entity. Since the meddling old bastard had further strengthened the seal on his host's body, he hadn't been able to sense anything from the outside world. All his external senses were shut off from the outside. Somehow, the old fool had devised a method of blocking off everything going into the Kyuubi's awareness—and blocked him from influencing Naruto.

Kyuubi hadn't known what was going on until it was too late. He had put a great amount of strain on the boy, much more than he thought he would, so he decided that he would not make contact with the boy until he was completely healed. Imagine his surprise when he heard the boy's cry for help, only to be slammed back into his own consciousness the instant he tried to see through Naruto's eyes.

He was becoming irate…and an angry grand demon lord is never one to cross. When I get my hands…Naruto's hands on that old meddler, he'll wish he had never been born.

A whimper came from a dark corner of the room. "Aww, shut up, you little bitch," he snarled at the huddled figure in the darkness. "What've you got to complain about?" He chuckled darkly. "Besides an eternity of torture and suffering, I mean?"

The spectral form of Mizuki lay chained to the stone walls the Kyuubi had imagined into existence. The past two months were enough to make him wish he had never, ever laid eyes on Naruto, or Konoha. He wished he had never been born…nobody deserved the treatment he received on an hourly basis.

"I'm bored," the fox said. He smiled sadistically at the ghost stuck in his cavern. "Ready for some fun?"

The screaming had begun.

The mask began to melt and mold itself to Naruto's face, sink into his skin like syrup into a sponge. He felt every pore of his face open up to be invaded as the mask worked its way inside of him. It felt as if some sadist was taking a thousand rusty screwdrivers to his face and was thrusting and twisting them all at once. His body thrashed around, limbs spastically twitching and writhing. Out of the corner of his mind, he realized that Sasuke and Hinata both were going through the same ritual of pain.

_Why does everything always have to hurt so damn much?! _Naruto thought in the back of his mind.

He tried to scream—had been trying to scream, in fact—but realized that the mask was somehow muzzling his mouth, preventing him from vocalizing much more than a grunt. In the brief glimpses that he managed to open his eyes for, it looked as if a purple filter had been placed over his eyes. _I'm looking through his eyes,_ he realized.

He suddenly felt someone grapple with him and hold his arms steady by his side while their legs gripped him tight about the knees to stop his thrashing. He jerked and twitched maniacally, but their grip held firm, refusing to let him move an inch. The person rolled so that Naruto's back was on the ground and he was on top of the boy.

Naruto felt the fire spread throughout his body; from his head to his toes, the whole of his being was permeated with the unholy burn that was the Inugami attaching itself to its host. Whatever it was, it was invading him in the most literal sense of the word.

_I…can…handle…this! _Naruto internally grunted as he felt the corporal mask disappear from his face and the fire burned all the hotter in his body. _I could handle the fox…I CAN HANDLE THIS BASTARD! _He gritted his teeth and clenched his jaw to distract himself from the pain, but to no avail. It was too much, too much, too…

_I have to do this! _Naruto berated himself. _I can't give up! My whole life has lead up to this, I can't back out now, not now, not ever! I can handle the pain, for Sasuke, for Hinata, for the old man! FUCK!_

All of a sudden, just as the fire had spread evenly through his body…it began to die down. It dulled from to fiery burn to a low heat, all the way to a dull throb…then it was gone altogether. His body was coated in sweat, his heart was racing—but he was alive! He'd done it!

He opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was a wolfen mask mere inches from his face. His eyes flickered across the terracotta in recognition, then were distracted by the thing mere feet above the ANBU's back. "H-hey, Honoka-chan," he gasped. "As much as I appreciate this…I think I'm ok. Matter of fact, I think it'd be a good idea if you got off of me right now."

Naruto heard the grin in her voice as she replied. "Aww, but I was just having fun," she said. "Afraid Hinata will get jealous or something?"

Naruto gulped. "No," he said slowly. "But there is an unreasonably large dog hanging over your shoulder, and it looks like it would like to eat you for breakfast."

In the blink of an eye, she was off of the boy with her ninjato in hand, looking all around. "Where?" she asked, her head whipping back and forth.

Naruto was about to reply when the world went dark; all the details of the courtyard became blurred, indistinct, out of focus. The only thing in his vision that he could see clearly, as a matter of fact, was the monstrous beast that now towered over him.

It was a dog—at least, that was what it looked like at first glance. It was gargantuan in size, being at least nine or ten stories tall at its shoulder. Its shaggy fur was black with blue zigzags shot through from neck to tail…no, not tail, _tails. _Plural. This dog wasn't any old demon…

_Oh, shit, _Naruto thought. _This is a tailed beast. I now have two tailed beasts inside of me…this cannot be good._

Four tails sprouted from the rump of the gigantic dog, swishing to and fro in the wind. Saliva dripped from its chops as it raised its head into the air. **Aah, released at last, **it rumbled. Naruto didn't exactly see its lips move—so how could it speak?

**It has been so long since I have tasted fresh air, child of Minato, **it said in a gravely voice. **This moment…it almost makes it all worth it, those years stuck in that damned box.**

Large beads of sweat began forming on Naruto's brow. Whatever he had been expecting, _this _most certainly was not it. "W-who are you?" he stammered. "And how do you know my name? And why couldn't Honoka see you?"

The great beast chuckled. **I am the demon that was sealed inside of the mask that you now wear nearly a millennia ago, child, **he rumbled. **I am the four-tailed Inu, offspring of the five-tailed Houkou, the most powerful demonic dog. I know your name because I am, as of now, essentially another part of you—your memories are now a part of me, just as I am a part of you. I know all about you, child, more than even you do. As to why the one you call Honoka cannot see you…only you can see me right now, just as your friends can only see their respective parasites. **He chuckled at the analogy. **I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself properly, have I? My name is Sando no Inu…merely Sando to you, pup.**

_I really wish people would stop calling me "pup" all the time, _Naruto thought.

The large dog chuckled. **As you wish, child of Minato, **he said.

Naruto's jaw dropped. "Did you just read my mind?" he asked incredulously.

**I told you already, **Sando rumbled. **I am a part of you now, as you are of me. Unlike that brute Kyuubi, I am not merely a prisoner inside of you; the whole of my being has merged with you on a spiritual level. I have not changed who you are as a person, fear not; think of it as more of…I am the katana in the sheath. You must draw me to use me, for I can be a truly fearsome weapon.**

Naruto gulped again. "Um…yeah, I guess you are," he said nervously. "Hey, uh, Sando? Is there any way you could like, _not _be about sixty thousand times my size? I'm starting to get an inferiority complex down here."

The demonic dog chuckled. **You know, Minato said almost the exact same thing the first time I was exposed to him. As you wish…perhaps this would make you feel better? **Suddenly, a cloud of smoke rose into the air, completely obscuring the form of Sando. When it dissipated, there was a man standing in the spot the dog's right paw had formerly been occupying, roughly twenty feet from where Naruto was sitting on the ground.

"Is this better?" the man asked, his voice no longer coming to Naruto telepathically.

"Um…yeah," Naruto said. "A lot better, actually. Thanks."

The man that Sando transformed into was taller than normal, nearly seven feet tall. Like his beastial form, his hair was dark and shaggy with dark blue streaks throughout. He wore a trench coat that went nearly to his feet, leaving only black sandaru exposed. The coat buttoned up to his neck, and the only adornment he had was, oddly enough, a Leaf hitai-ate. His eyes were a dark-violet, cunning and intelligent. He had a hard-looking face, broken by a scar on his left cheek that inched from the corner of his mouth upward to just the side of his nose. Somehow, Naruto didn't think this was purely cosmetic; it was a literal expression of how Sando would look if he was an actual human being.

"My name is Sando," he repeated, stepping closer to Naruto. "When I was sealed inside of the mask, I was a three-tailed demon; roughly three hundred years ago, I grew old enough to sprout another tail, even though I was trapped inside of the mask with my compatriots. I used to be what was known as an Inugami…a guardian spirit dog. Long story cut short, I rebelled against the house I had tied myself to. I was caught by some of the mediums in town, and sealed with the Tengu of the forest, Shukusatsu, and the Mizuchi of the ocean near the port town, Aoiryu. The village elders were attempting to do away with all of the higher spirits in the area; that's why I rebelled. Really, it was kind of ironic, as we were basically protecting the place, each in our own way. I went back through the history books when Minato was my host, and it turns out the town in question was destroyed by pirates not long after we were incarcerated." He shrugged and laughed. "Karma is a bitch, huh?"

Naruto laughed with him, somehow no longer afraid of him."Yeah, it is. Um…you have access to all of my memories—I was told I'd get all of the information and jutsu and stuff from you, too. Isn't that the way it works?"

Sando sighed. "Yeah, Minato asked that the first time, too. I gave him all of the stuff I had at once—big mistake, trust me." He waved a hand; the scenery about them changed, morphing from that of the courtyard to a small library. "I figured this would work out better than a sudden rush—whenever you want to know something, meditate and enter into this room. Each book contains a segment of the previous Inugami's knowledge and experience—all you have to do is open it, and all of the information stored inside will be made available to you."

He winked at Naruto, startling the boy. "I'd avoid the red section if I were you, unless you want to see exactly how you were conceived." He laughed aloud as Naruto flushed.

"Good advice," Naruto mumbled. "Anything else I have to know?"

"No, nothing immediate," said the oddly human demon. "We'll talk on the road, we'll have plenty of time for that later. Right now…" He waved a hand and the surroundings went back to normal. "Your friends need to talk to you—and I need to talk to Shukusatsu and Aoiryu. You understand, we have a lot to catch up on." And with that, suddenly and without warning, he vanished into thin air. Poof, he was gone, just like that.

"…Naruto…Naruto…wake up, boy," Kakashi said, shaking Naruto's shoulders.

Naruto opened his groggy eyes to the light mist that spread throughout the courtyard. "Wha…how long was I out for?" he asked his sensei.

"Just a few seconds," said Honoka. Naruto suddenly realized that his head was resting in her lap as he lay on the ground. He sat up with a start and looked wildly around until he saw Sasuke and Hinata, both of whom had the same dazed expression on their faces as he did.

"Did you two—"

"Yeah," Sasuke interrupted. "We did. Wow. That was—"

"Incredible," added Hinata. "Totally incredible."

"Yeah," said Naruto and Sasuke together. Their eyes met, and a sudden realization passed between them. Until this was all over—until they retired or were killed, the three of them would always be together one way or another. Hyuuga, Uchiha, Uzumaki—eventually, the three of them would pass on into legend, their stories and exploits told around the world. Their eyes shone bright, momentarily forgetting all the pain and sorrow that would be coming to them in the very near future. For a few scant instants, they forgot the risk they were taking on this mission. For a blink of an eye, Hinata let slip from her mind that there was a very real risk that she might be raped by their target, or even worse. Sasuke, for an infinitesimal moment, lost all thought of vengeance on his brother. Naruto, too, forgot all the pain and suffering he had gone through to follow in his father's footsteps.

They were Sanseirei. That was all that mattered.

"Are you ready to go?" asked Kakashi.

Naruto and Sasuke stood up from the ground; Hinata was already on her feet. "I guess so," said Sasuke. "But what about disguises? You implied that we'd be getting some sort of illusionary techniques with the Sanseirei masks, but what about you? How's a simple mask going to help you hide yourself?"

Both Kakashi and Sarutobi chuckled. "Show them, Kakashi," the old man said.

Kakashi nodded. "Certainly," he replied. From out of his vest he pulled a mask that looked exactly like any other ANBU mask in the village. With a final eye-smile he moved the mask toward his face, but didn't quite place it upon himself. With his free hand, he reached under the mask to remove the mouth covering he perpetually had, but before anybody could see the rest of his face, the terracotta mask was placed on his face, much to the disappointment of the three Sanseirei.

For a moment, nothing happened, but then something curious occurred—the mask seemed to melt onto Kakashi's face, just as their own Sanseirei masks had done to them. It took only a matter of moments to blend in with his facial features, appearing to rearrange his eyes, his nose, his mouth. When his face had settled itself, even his hair had changed—no longer was it short and silver. Instead, he had straw-colored shoulder-length hair that was offset by dark brown eyes. He seemed to have aged about five years, if the light wrinkles around his eyes were any indication.

"What the hell?" Naruto mumbled. "What the fuck is that?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi smiled. "This is something the boys in R&D have been working on for quite some time," Kakashi said. "Usually, for a disguise, a shinobi will use a Henge. Sometimes this works, but never for long-term missions. So they were commissioned to make a sort of permanent genjutsu talisman to actually physically alter a shinobi for a time. This isn't an illusion you see—my face was actually altered by the mask. It'll stay like this until I take it off…which won't be until the mission is over."

Sarutobi grunted. "That reminds me," he said as he walked over to the three children. "These are the three faces that you will adopt while you are on your mission." He handed each of them a photograph of someone of their general age. Naruto was startled to realize that he recognized the face.

"Hey, this person lives somewhere in Konoha, doesn't he?" Naruto asked.

"Yes," Sarutobi said, nodding. "We needed real faces for you to adopt, so we went through village records and more or less randomly selected these photographs. They were chosen because they were all average-looking, with few if any distinctive features."

Naruto nodded. "Ok, I have just one question about this," he said. "How the hell are we supposed to actually transform into these guys? It's not like these masks come with an instruction manual or something."

Kakashi chuckled. "From what we know," he said, "all you have to do is actually desire to become that person, and it will be done. The spirits inside of your masks will alter your appearance to suit your desires. Merely concentrate on the details of the face you wish to become, and it will be so."

Naruto shared a glance with his partners. "Well," said Sasuke, "I guess we gotta try it out to see if it works." The other two nodded with him and each concentrated on the image in their hands. Naruto took in all of the details of the photograph—the boy's short black hair, the small scar on his cheek, the curve of his nose. He memorized the features of his eyes, the reflection of his iris—everything.

He reached deep down into himself, into a place that was even deeper and darker than he knew existed in him. Let me become him, he thought. Let me change into this boy.

Naruto felt—something—respond. It wasn't a voice, or a thought…just a sort of pressure emanate from his very core. It felt similar to the Kyuubi's chakra, but different—as different as possible as it was to be, in fact, and still be the same thing.

It was chakra, he realized, slowly pulsing through him. Like the Kyuubi he had his own chakra source to add to Naruto's. But unlike the fox's, which he would call "red" chakra, or his own, which he would call "blue", this was a deep violet, close to black but not quite. Also unlike the fox's, this chakra didn't feel…malevolent. It didn't have that taint of hatred and evil that he received from his unwilling prisoner. When he used Kyuubi's chakra, it was like stepping into a vat of boiling water. With this chakra, however, it was more like stepping into a cool, soothing bath. With it, he felt safe, secure—he knew it wouldn't hurt him if he used it to its extremes.

He felt something under his skin crunch slightly—his nose had broken itself, shifted, and reset itself. But oddly enough, he didn't feel it. He felt his cheeks and chin and skin alter itself slightly to fit the new face. It felt cool, like dunking his head in room-temperature water. After a few moments, the curious sensation ceased, bringing a newfound perception to his vision. His eyelids were just a tiny bit more heavy now than before, reducing his vertical vision by a few degrees.

He glanced over at Hinata and Sasuke, startled at the changes that had come over them. Hinata had kept her hair's natural hue, although it now came down past her shoulder blades in a pony-tail. Her eyes had lost that trademark lavender hue, to be replaced by light blue orbs that weren't nearly as large as her natural ones. Her nose was somewhat larger, but not grotesque by any means, and her lips gained something in volume.

Sasuke, however, had a more startling change to his credit: he looked almost exactly like a miniature version of Kakashi's disguise, albeit a much more youthful face and lighter eyes. "Hey!" exclaimed Naruto. "He looks just like you!"

Sarutobi nodded. "Yes," he said. "Sasuke will be going with you posing as Kakashi's son. You two will be childhood friends of his that are traveling with them. The cover story will be Kakashi was a samurai from Rice Fields country who left his homeland about a year ago due to political turmoil—a plausible-enough cover, as there were actually many who have left that land in that time. Kakashi's name will be Nagano Yahiko, Sasuke's, Nagano Tanaka. Naruto, you will be Tsukioka Seijuro, and Hinata will be Shinomori Misao.

"You have been wandering the land doing odd jobs for the past few months, from body-guard work to basic chores." He produced a map from his robes and handed it over to Naruto, who unfolded it and showed it to the other two. "This is the route you have taken; when you left what is now being called Oto, you traveled south and east, making a brief stop in Wave country for a time. From there, you traveled further south, then hanging west when you hit the Tea peninsula. You traveled along the coast until you reached River, then traveled north and somewhat deeper into Fire country, which is where you will meet Nagasaki. Any further plans and strategy will be made by Kakashi.

"I want to remind you, you three, even though you wear the masks of the Sanseirei, you are still soldiers under Kakashi's command. You are to obey him in whatever order he issues. Do not assume that just because you have these new powers and memories, you are instantly superior to everyone else in the world. The simple fact is, anybody who could destroy you yesterday could still do so today. You are inexperienced—still fresh from the academy, despite the past two months. To be blunt, you've never had to face the real world before. It could take years before you reach the level of skill that would truly mark you as true Sanseirei—do not forget to be humble once in a while." He smiled as the three children nodded. "Any questions?" he asked.

Naruto held up his hand. "Yeah, I have one that's been bugging me for a while now," he said. "Ninja get paid on commission based on the missions they complete. How are we going to be paid if all our work is black op?"

Sarutobi chuckled. "I wondered when you'd get around to money, Naruto," he said. "You will each be given a bank account in which you will never have to worry about the balance…money will be put into it as quick as you take it out. Living expenses will be taken care of—although I'm fairly sure that when you get home you won't have to worry about that. Put squarely…money will never have to be something that you'll ever have to worry about, Naruto."

Naruto grinned. "Sweet," he said. "That's all I've got," he said.

"You two?" Sarutobi asked, indicating Hinata and Sasuke.

"Um, yeah, I have one," said Sasuke. "Are we going out like this?" he asked, indicating his clothes—the same ones he had been wearing for over a month, the standard black ensemble.

Sarutobi arched an eye. "I nearly forgot," grumbled Sarutobi. "Damned old age…" He looked over his shoulder at Honoka. "My dear," he said, "the bag, please?"

She actually giggled at the old man. "Certainly, Hokage-sama," she said. She hefted a bag and opened it at the top, handing one bundle each out to the three Genin. "These are the clothes you'll be wearing on your trip. Backpacks will be provided to you with additional clothing and other supplies. You'll have to leave all your other ninja gear here, though—that includes your kunai and shuriken and anything else that might identify you as shinobi, especially from the Leaf."

"Go get changed," Kakashi said. "I have to, too. Merely changing your face can't hide who you are—you have to change your entire outward appearance to hide properly. Meet back here in ten minutes—all of our supplies will be prepared by then."

The three nodded. "Yes, sensei," they chorused as they bowed and hurried to the locker rooms.

When they were out of earshot, Sarutobi whispered to Kakashi, "So, do you think they have it in them?"

Kakashi sighed. "I sure hope so," he replied. "For their sake, I can only hope."

A/N: Hope you liked it. Not much to say, it speaks for itself.

* * *

A/N:

I know that there wasn't much action here, as I promised you. Fact is, the way the story worked out, I would have had about twice as many words as I do now. That would have been a sacrifice I would have been willing to make, but it would have taken way too long, and writing sucks Gamabunta ass when you have a fractured wrist and have to hunt-and-peck. Have you ever sucked Gamabunta ass? Trust me, it's not something you wanna do on a regular basis.

Chapter 9 is when the real fun begins…the whole storyline will conclude with this one. I'm foreseeing 15k words, at least…hope you like long chapters, buddy. The Sanseirei will get closer with their demons (or in Hinata's case, "Higher spirit" (angel!)), and I've got something for all you horny little devils: my very first full-out lemon scene! I won't tell you who it is or where or the circumstances, but it's gonna be pretty steamy, to say the least.

The quartet will make their way into the lord's home…you can guess what's happening there, but I won't tell till then! Sorry, I'm evil. It's what I do.

Ok, gotta go peoples. Take care now. Adios!


	9. Salutations

**IIIIMMMMMM BAAAAAACK! **

Did you miss me? Oh, you know you did, admit it! It is I, the almighty, all-powerful dead witch here to save the day!

Oh, what's that, you say? How can a deceased spellcaster rescue anyone?

Um... Good point.

Anyway, the point it, I'm back from the dead. How's that feel? I haven't posted anything up here since May. To be fair, I've been really busy with school and all (culinary school since September) and before that I had a job in the summer... but really, I dropped the ball. In any case, I'm back with more Naruto-filled goodness!

To start things off, this is a pretty long freaking chapter. On the plus side, it all takes place (well, almost all) in one setting. Negative... almost no action whatsoever. This is largely a transitional chappie, but you learn a lot about the Sanseirei and the creatures inside of the masks. A lot is still concealed, though, but I promise that the next chapter will be a lot quicker in coming.

Oh, speaking of coming... The lemon scene I promised you, and the culmination of this story arc, won't be happening until next chapter. PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!!!

Might be about 15k words, I think. This one took a lot longer than I thought to get to where I left off.

Now, before anyone says anything, I posted this very chapter before I got word from my beta. I'll repost with corrections when I get it back, but for the moment you'll just have to deal with the jacked-up version :-P

Time to answer fan mail! Wait, I get no fan mail... Ok, review-answering time!

**Darksnider05: Thanks, appreciate the review. It's a proven fact that porn DOES make the world go round. How many D.C. sex scandals are on the news?? Duh!**

**THE HEE-HO KING: Hinata is safe, she is with the three of the most dangerous human beings in Naruto history. Kudos for never sucking frog anus. (Seriously, good call dude)**

**Ferousha the Panda Chick: Again, frog bunghole = bad, so great. And thanks for caring about my wrist. Been a while since it's healed, but I've been lazy on my own since then . Thank you for reading (that applies to everyone, really) and I'm glad you think this is higher-quality stuff. I did my best... but I'm a little bit rusty. **

**Shinobiscribe: Glad you are ok with little action, this is pretty much conversation until just about the end. Then you'll laugh your ass off. And yeah, I know, they're young... but anyone who can be told to go kill someone is also old enough to do whatever the hell else they want. I've already made my opinions known about this, and I'm not going to change any time soon. (Lolicon and Shota is still a bad idea, though...)**

**MissNaye: Hiashi will get what's coming to him, I promise.**

**TimeShifter: Enjoy the spirits. No lemon here, but I'll have it right off the bat next time, I hope!**

**Aikori Shukrai: Glad you like! Good to be back!**

**Dragon Man 180: We meet the other spirits today, and the three shinobi will be getting some little personality quirks. Heh heh, the cat suggestion made me laugh. And Naruto will be getting PLENTY enough advice from Sando as it is!**

**Zarcade: Glad you like, I try to keep them human! My muse is a bitch, but she delivers when it counts!**

**Kemiztri: Like I keep saying, she'll be fine! And I know I said this will be an exclusive NaruHina story... but lately, I've had some second thoughts about that. You'll see, don't worry. **

**Dez Guardians: Ok, you'll hate me even more now. Sorry.**

**Viktor Mayrin: Wow, a true fan! I do this for people like you! Well, you, and my own malicious fantasies *muahahahaha!* Erm, I mean, I'd like to thank the Academy... Is :-)**

**Anthurak the Chaos Lord: Muchos thanks. Those are good fics, and I like harems too, but I agree, they tend to go overboard. Now, this will never, ever be a harem. But one or more character might get more than one romantic partner.**

**Narutojazz19: Thanks! Um, I don't think it's the best thing ever, but I appreciate it! You're welcome!**

**Thelvyn: Glad you like, again... But trust me, I think I know what I'm doing. I. THINK!**

All right, here goes!

**Chapter 9**

The sun had long passed it's zenith by the time Kakashi—who insisted on now being called "Nagano-sensei" by his students, even when they were absolutely certain that they were alone—decided that it was time for them to stop traveling for the night and make camp.

The sunset on the horizon shone directly into the quartet's faces as they traveled the dusty path throughout the day. To the Sanseirei's slight surprise, the masks took care of the problem of light-glare for them by compensating automatically to the sun. In what seemed like a thousand different ways, they were discovering more and more things about the masks they bore and the demons inside of them... even if they hadn't actually spoken a word to them yet.

Naruto was beginning to wonder if Sando would _ever _answer any of his silent pleas that day, much to his frustration. It seemed as if he was _ignoring _his own host!

"Okay," Kakashi/Nagano said about half an hour after they had entered a fairly thick forested area, "who's hungry?"

Naruto's growling stomach suddenly made itself known, a not-so-gentle reminder that they hadn't eaten since just past noon; even though it was only five or six hours later, his metabolism had always been nearly out of control. The rumble from his gut nearly reverberated in the small copse they had found themselves in.

"I think," Naruto deadpanned, "I can answer in affirmative."

Hinata giggled, raising her fingers to her lips, and even Sasuke smiled at his partner as he shook his head. Kakashi merely shook his head as he cleared a spot on the forest floor and 999dropped his pack to the ground. "Fine," Kakashi said not unkindly, "you and that stomach can take a rest. Miaso-chan, Tanaka, you two go gather some firewood. Seijuro, break out our supplies. Get the gear ready for a stew."

"And what will you be doing while we're all working?" Sasuke asked sarcastically, slipping into his role of Kakashi's son.

Said man dropped to the ground and leaned against a tree. "Taking a nap, of course," he said calmly as the two boys rolled their eyes and Hinata giggled again. "What else?"

Twilight fell gently but heavily on the band of assassins as they sat around the fire in the night. The air grew chill; blankets had to be broken out even though the fire was sufficient to cook their meal and provide a token aura of warmth.

The night sky was ablaze with stars scattered across the ebony canvas. Out here, in the wilderness, far away from any other city or town with electric lights, every star in the sky was given its due in glory. Naruto found himself humming a half-remembered song he had heard as a child... something about twinkling stars and wishes. _Heh... Wishes,_ he thought to himself.

"Is everybody satisfied?" Kakashi asked the trio. Naruto was _still _getting used to his—and everybody else's—new appearance, new voice.

A small chorus of affirmatives rang back at the leader of the mission. "Good," he said. "We can leave cleanup until tomorrow morning... I'm tired, so let's just get some early sleep."

Naruto was puzzled—Kakashi didn't look tired at all—but he nodded his head and pulled his bedroll off of his pack and took a few steps to the area they had designated as their sleeping space for the night. The three lay side by side, Naruto in the middle with Hinata to his left and Sasuke to his right, and one by one they lay to the ground and rested their heads upon the pillows sewn into the fabric of their sleeping bags.

"Goodnight," he said to nobody in particular, though he turned his head to face Hinata in the darkness. "Sweet dreams," he whispered more softly.

Naruto could feel the smile come from his love. "Same to you," she whispered back.

A snort could be heard from the other side of Naruto. "Get a room, you two," he grumbled, mostly to himself. "Some of us are trying to sleep over here."

Naruto and Hinata laughed lowly and easily. "We would," Naruto teased the Uchiha, "but then we'd have to leave you behind... and we all know how lonely you can get by yourself."

Sasuke sputtered, but before he could snap back a retort, Kakashi called out from the campfire. "Go to sleep, you three," he said. "That's an order. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

Sasuke bit his tongue before he could tell Kakashi what to do with his orders. Although the man was usually easy-going, he didn't get the reputation of being one of the greatest shinobi of his generation by being a nice guy. "Hai... Father," he said, pausing just a fraction of a second... a detail that did not go unnoticed by his superior. The older man let it slide—it would take some time for his three charges to get comfortable with their charade. That was one reason that they had taken roads that avoided any village or trading post. If someone became suspicious of them along the way, and word somehow reached their target, the whole mission could be blown.

_Of course,_ Kakashi thought as the Sanseirei relaxed their bodies for their long sleep, _they have some other business to take care of tonight that just can't be done indoors._ He smiled to himself as the fire died down gently into embers on the warm earth before him. _I hope they're having fun._

When Naruto dreamt, it was usually some sort of horror manifesting itself to torment his subconscious. He never felt guilty for what he had to do at times, much as he knew that he should. Thus, monsters crept out of corners of his mind at night, perhaps beings created by his conscience to make him pay for existing.

Once or twice a month, however, he would have a lucid dream—a dream where he was totally aware of himself and his surroundings. Usually during these dreams, though, he would be plagued by the demon inside of him, the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

Thus, Naruto was startled somewhat as he slipped into unconsciousness and felt himself going into one of those dreams once again.

He opened his eyes, for they were closed already. Fat lot of good it did him—it was pure darkness all around. It didn't make any difference whether his eyes were open or shut, so all-encompassing was the ebony shade. To his surprise, however, he could hear just perfectly—breathing, to either side of him. He easily recognized those breathing patterns, for he had been sleeping beside them for the past month.

"Hinata! Sasuke!" he said as he rose to a crouch, attempting to brush aside a nonexistent bedroll. "Wake up, hurry! Something's going on, and I can't see!"

Naruto heard a low chuckle from somewhere behind him, a deep voice that he quickly recognized as he sensed his comrades stand beside him. "Quiet down, little one," his demonic familiar said as he slowly became visible. "You can't see because the connection isn't yet strong enough for all of your senses to be fully aware yet. Give it a few minutes, ok kid?"

"Connection?" Naruto asked. "What the hell do you mean?"

"Naruto?" said Hinata. "Who are you talking to—Oh!" she said, looking away from Sando, away and up. "Aoiryu-san! Hello again!" She turned to Naruto and Sasuke, who had just then become visible to her. "Aoiryu, meet Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun, the other Sanseirei."

"Who are _you _talking to, Hinata?" Naruto asked. "All I see is Sando here—"

"And neither of you can see Shukusatsu, can you?" interjected Sasuke.

"Who?" asked Naruto.

Sasuke sighed. "And you were supposed to be the clever one," Sasuke grumbled. "You haven't figured it out yet, have you?"

Hinata's eyes widened, and Naruto realized for the first time that they had regained their original, authentic appearance. "Oh, I understand!" she said. "We can only see our own demon for right now, right Aoiryu?"

The great demon dog chuckled. "That's right... but we can see all of you right now, pup," he said to Naruto. "In a few moments, the connection will be complete, and we will be able to get down to business."

Naruto frowned. "Business?" he asked as his partners carried on their own conversations. For the moment, he just tuned them out. "What do you mean?"

The human form of the dog demon took a step toward the boy. "I mean," he grumbled, "tonight is when you learn of the true inheritance you are to possess, and the power that will be granted to you. Tonight," he said with a glint in his eyes, "is when your _true _training begins."

A sliver of apprehension slid down Naruto's spine. "W-what do you mean, 'true training'?" he asked Sando.

The demon laughed. "You'll see, kid," he said. "You'll see. Oh, look, our new friends are here... "

"New friends?—" Before Naruto could finish his sentence, smoke filled the entire undefined area in which they stood, shrouding everything from Naruto's vision. Even Sasuke and Hinata, no more than a few feet away, were beyond sight to him. "Hey!" he shouted, taking a step backwards. "Where did everybody go?"

No sooner had he spoken than the smoke had begun to dissipate. "We're right here, dobe," came Sasuke's lazy answer. "Where did you think we would go?"

Naruto sighed. "I don't know," he said. "I got kinda confused when I COULDN'T SEE ANYTHING!"

Naruto heard Sando laugh, but now accompanied by a new set of voices—a light, airy one and a voice that sounded as if it had been dragged over a gravel road and sprinkled with broken glass. One divine, one... if not damned, then at least doomed.

"So," rasped one. "These are the other two brats we've come to be tied to, is that right?" The smoke had completely vanished by then, leaving only the figures of the Sanseirei and their counterparts. "This is the Hyuuga... and the spawn of your own Namikaze, huh Sando?" To Naruto's surprise, he wasn't an impressive figure, even in human form; he was short, even shorter than Hinata, standing barely up to her shoulder. He had long tussled hair to his shoulders and a large nose that was reminiscent of a potato left to grow just a little bit too long and left out in the sun a few days. He was dressed in a tattered cloak that hung to his knees, and torn breeches appeared at its hem. Piercing black eyes shone alarmingly bright in the void they inhabited, seeming to burrow deep down into Naruto's soul.

"Hush, Shuku," said a softer, lighter voice. Naruto and Sasuke turned to look behind them to see Hinata already with Her spirit, a tall, graceful woman with blond hair that fell to the floor with skin only a shade or two darker than her tresses. Dark blue shade surrounded her eyes, and an icy blue covered her lips. A long white gown that seemed to be spun of pure strung snow covered her body all the way down to her feet, embroidered with a stylistic draconic face across her left breast. She was absolutely breathtaking in every sense of the word, and though he loved Hinata, for a split second a pang of lust for this angel inside of her coursed through Naruto.

He immediately felt guilty, for the one who held his heart was with the ethereal beauty. He immediately cleared his mind of those thoughts—for all he knew, she—or any one of the demons—could read his mind. And in this situation... that might not be such a good thing.

"Shuku? As in 'Shukusatsu'?" Naruto asked aloud to himself, although apparently the squat little man took it as a comment to himself.

"That's me, you little pissant," he barked at the boy. Seemingly from out of nowhere, a cigar appeared in his hands, already lit and smoldering. He put it to his lips and inhaled, the deep drag making a half-inch long piece of ash fall to the dark floor. "Shukusatsu, that's right. Got a problem?"

Sando laughed aloud. "Leave the kid alone, Shuku," the Inugami said. "He's special, just like his father was. He'll get the hang of all of this soon enough."

Shukusatsu merely chuckled, the sound coming out of his throat as if forced through a gauntlet of glass and gravel. "Special... Right," he said. "He even looks like his old man, down to the eyes... Creepy, really."

"Pot, kettle, black," quipped Sando. "You're one to talk about creepy."

The short man laughed and took a long pull on his cigar, the ember at its tip brightening to an ominous fiery-red. "And your point is?" he shot back at the taller demon.

"It just seems a little bit inconsistent," Sando said.

Shukusatsu just smiled as he blew out a ring of smoke. "A being of unimaginable power and intelligence is allowed to have a few inconsistencies, I would think," he said.

Sando smiled, stretching his scar a small bit. "True," he said. "Too true."

"Can we please get down to business?" interjected Aoiryu. "The children are here to learn about their new gifts, and the roles the fates have thrown for them... Not to hear you two bicker."

Sando and Shukusatsu chuckled. "Why not?" Sando said. He looked about himself, seeming to take in the surroundings... or lack thereof. "How about we settle in a more comfortable and less depressing setting?" he asked. With a wave of his hand, the indistinct void that had surrounded them melted into the shadows; a library, it seemed, materialized about them. Shelves upon shelves appeared, arranged in spokes radiating out from a central hub that contained several tables surrounding six easy chairs set in the middle.

"A library?" questioned Sasuke. "Why this?"

Sando smiled, while Shukusatsu groaned. "These are all of the books that Minato ever read," the Inu said. "He always was happy with his books."

"Holy shit," Naruto whispered. "There must be... "

"About seven hundred thousand, all told," said Sando.

"Holy shit," Naruto repeated. "That... that's impossible!"

Sando smiled. "Not if he's using Kage Bunshin, it's not," he said with a laugh. "He could make about three hundred without breaking a sweat. He really was quite good."

"Wow," said Naruto. "That's... Impressive."

Sando sighed. "Yeah," he said, "he was."

Aoiryu cleared her throat loudly. "But that's no why we're here," he continued. He waved a hand at the six chairs arranged in a hexagon. "Take a seat... and we can get started."

The Sanseirei looked at each other, excitement and anticipation etched upon their faces. This was what they had been waiting for ever since they had learned of the masks--their entire future was about to change.

The three sat down in their customary formation: Naruto in the center, with Sasuke and Hinata to his side. Naruto wondered for a moment when that pattern had become customary for them. Did that mean that, at least unconsciously, they thought of him as their leader? Naruto banished the thought; there was no way Sasuke would ever acknowledge Naruto as superior to himself!

The spiritual beings sat across from the children, Aoiryu and Shukusatsu next to their respective hosts, with Sando across from Naruto. For the moment, at least, he seemed to be completely serious. Gone was any humor in his eyes-- he was all business.

"Welcome," said Sando, "to the collective consciousness you three now share. Doubtless, you've been wondering exactly where you are right now. What is this? _Where _is this? Is this a figment of your imagination, or is a place as real as you and I?"

"The answer," said Aoiryu, sliding seamlessly into the speech, "is both. You three now share a permanent mental connection to each other. Between you is a constant psychic bond that can never be broken... At least as long as you are in possession of the masks of the Sanseirei. We are now inside of that bond. Before, when we were trapped inside of the masks, and each time we have been removed from our hosts, we were cut off from each other. For some reason, we need you three, or any other three shinobi, to communicate with each other. That is one reason why we cooperate and work with you shinobi."

"You have no idea what it's like to be stuck in there," Shukusatsu said quietly, "awake every minute of your existence, bouncing around inside without being able to move an inch. Demons don't sleep; at least, Tengu don't. In a thousand years of captivity, I went insane no less than fifteen times, coming back from each. I was tumbling down that road again when the Shodai Hokage found the three masks we inhabit... That is why _I _cooperate. I don't... _ever... _want to go through that again." He took one last pull on the smoking stogie in his hand, then stubbed it out in the ashtray that somehow appeared by his side. Naruto hadn't noticed it a moment ago...

"One question," said Naruto as Shukusatsu pulled another cigar from his cloak and placed it in his mouth. "You said this place was a product of our imagination... Does that mean that our minds are creating this?"

Aoiryu nodded her graceful head. "That is correct, young one," she said softly. "This realm is an exercise in imagination... It responds to your will, is shaped by your wants, much as a pond is shaped by a dropped pebble."

"So," said Sasuke, "if I want a sword... " he held out his hand before him, palm up. After a moment, a katana-- an exact replica of the one he received from Hayate, as a matter of fact-- appeared in his hand. "Hmm... Interesting."

"That is but a taste of what you can do here in the mindscape," said Sando. "Much as I created the library around us, we can change the environment for simulated training... or just about anything else you would like. It is, literally, only limited to the imagination."

"More on that later," said Aoiryu, looking pointedly at Sando and Shukusatsu. "Please, brothers, let us tell them the truth of their heritage now... They deserve to know."

Sando sighed while Shukusatsu puffed on his cigar-- _When did he light it? _Naruto thought. "We might be rushing this," said the Inugami. "Perhaps it can wait until next time... "

"No," said Shukusatsu. "She's right. Besides the fact that they'd learn about it eventually... It is an odd set of coincidences that brought the three of them together, is it not?"

The three shinobi were confused. "What do you mean, the truth?" asked Hinata. "What are you talking about, Aoiryu?"

"Hold, dragon," said Sando. "Let me explain... You have no voice for storytelling. I'm the word-master of us three." He turned from his female counterpart to take in the three children before him. His gaze slid over them, one by one, from Hinata, to Naruto, to Sasuke.

"Fine," she said as Shukusatsu chuckled. "But tell them everything."

Sando sighed. "Fine," he said. "The whole truth... Well, where to begin?" he said aloud.

"How about the beginning?" said Sasuke. "It's a common place to start."

Sando smiled. "True," he said. "The beginning... " He seemed to look off in the distance. "Hinata... Have you any idea just how old your bloodline is?"

Hinata's eyes widened a little. "Well," she said, "not really, know. We know that the Byakugan is ancient, but we don't have many records older than about five hundred years or so... At least, as far as I know."

Sando smiled to himself. "The Byakugan is a little bit older than that, Hinata-chan," he said. "By about... Fifteen hundred years, give or take a century."

Hinata's jaw dropped just enough to express her amazement. "It's—it's two thousand years old?" she exclaimed. "Although the records were lost long ago, it's estimated that the Byakugan is no older than nine hundred years at the most, according to genetic markers in our DNA." She turned to her comrades. "In a shinobi with a Kekkei Genkai, DNA is arranged slightly differently compared to regular people, to make up for whatever effects the bloodline allows. It also shows, if you have an accurate family tree, how pure your blood is."

"Pure?" asked Naruto, shaking his head. "What the hell does that mean?"

Hinata looked down, a small expression of shame upon her face. "Sasuke... You know what I'm talking about," she said to the Uchiha.

Sasuke nodded. "I do," he said to Naruto. "Sometimes, the elders of a large clan will force it's young men and women to intermarry, so that their child will have strong kekkei genkai. My father, the leader of the Uchiha clan, barely managed to wiggle his way out of that situation himself."

"Hold on a moment," said Naruto. "Wouldn't a breeding arrangement like that, in such a small pool of stock, produce a lot of children with birth defects? Children born like that usually have something wrong with them, right?"

Sando nodded. "That's right, Naruto," he said. "Usually, they do, especially after such a long time. But don't forget, as Hinata said, people with Kekkei Genkai have DNA that is arranged differently from most other people's.

"Kekkei genkai," he continued, "don't occur naturally. Each bloodline ability is a gift from some higher power, whether it be some sort of demon, or a more divine spirit, such as an angel."

"I know that," said Hinata. "But what does that have to do with my clan's age?"

Sando looked to his right to the graceful woman robed in white. "Do you want to tell her?" he asked Aoiryu.

The draconic spirit placed a hand upon Sando's and smiled. "Yes, thank you," she said. She turned to Hinata. "Hinata," she said softly, "do you believe in fate? Destiny? Do you believe that there is no such thing as a coincidence, that many things you believe as such are truly preplanned?"

Hinata bit her lip. "I don't know," she said. "I know that some things... are arranged, somehow, anyway. But I have to believe that I have a choice in my life—that what I do and the decisions I make mean something."

Aoiryu nodded. "Good answer," she said. "I only ask this because it is extremely important. Young Hinata, I believe that our joining is, in some part, anyway, an act of fate." She took a deep breath, then let it out. "Hinata... It was I who gave the power of the Byakugan to the Hyuuga clan."

Hinata gasped. "Y-you? You're the mother of the Hyuuga clan? B-but I've always been told that the Hyuuga in ancient times bound a demon and dispersed its power throughout our clan, creating the Byakugan!"

The graceful woman shook her head. "I'm afraid, my child, that this is not the truth. Two thousand years ago, I gave a priest and a priestess the Byakugan to protect my shrine on the southern coast, near River country. They had children, and eventually a clan of warrior monks and priestesses was created. However, some of them became greedy, and hired themselves out as shinobi. Mind you, this transpired hundreds of years after I gave them the Byakugan," she said with a sad smile. "The traitors weren't at all the people I'd given the eyes too. A civil war broke out, about a hundred years before I was sealed inside of your mask. The shinobi-Hyuuga nearly annihilated the priest-Hyuuga, the survivors of whom fled to Water country, as far away from the mercenaries of the mainland." She shrugged her slender shoulders. "I know not the fate of those few people," she said. "I stayed here, in Fire country, to protect the people I had promised to protect. And to think... I'd created the Byakugan to help me in that endeavor."

A guilty look came to Hinata's face, causing Aoiryu to laugh softly. "It's not your fault, young Hyuuga," she said. "It's all ancient history. I cannot assign blame to this generation for the faults of its ancestors. To be fair, though... From what I gleam from your own memories, and my experiences with my previous hosts, the method of operation inside of the Hyuuga clan hasn't changed much since my... incarceration."

"What about the record loss?" asked Naruto. "What happened to cause that?"

Sorrow crossed Aoiryu's elegant face. "From what I've been able to tell," she said quietly, "the greatest civil war ever to break out inside of a clan occurred about five hundred years ago between two rival factions of the Hyuuga. In the ensuing battles, many of the records of your family were destroyed. Hundreds of years of history, invaluable documents, and clan pride was lost in countless confrontations. Eventually, one side won, overpowering the other, creating the rift the Hyuuga now knows. The Main and Branch houses of Hyuuga came into existence, one practically making slaves of the other with the Caged Bird seal developed centuries beforehand in a barbaric land of savages and monsters."

"I'd always wondered where the Hyuuga got their power," said Sasuke. "It's been said that the Sharingan is descended from the Byakugan." He turned his head at Shukusatsu. "Let me guess," he said to the Tengu. "You have something to do with my clan's power, right?"

Shukusatsu chuckled as he sucked on his cigar. "You could say something like that," he said, stubbing out the butt. "It's not as complicated a story as Aoi's here, though."

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto.

A large and twisted smile crept up to Shukusatsu's lips. "Well, I fucked a Hyuuga a couple hundred years before I got sealed with these two."

"Y... You what?!" exclaimed Sasuke and Hinata simultaneously.

Shukusatsu laughed. "Well, a long time ago I was the guardian of the Eastern Range, and a young Hyuuga woman came wandering, lost, through my territory. She was escaping the fighting her clan was going through at the time, and I was bored and lonely. I changed my appearance before she got to me to that of a rather strapping young man, and... well, one thing led to another." He smirked as Hinata's face glowed with a blush. "Oh, don't look at me like that," he said to Aoiryu, as she glared daggers at her diminutive partner. "You weren't anywhere around, and I was really, really lonely. Oh, and she had a GREAT ass, too."

A deadly pause hung in the air, and for just an instant, real fear crossed the Tengu's face. "Shukusatsu," Aoiryu said softly, yet with more than a hint of malice in her voice, "I told you to stop speaking of my progeny like that. If I ever hear you talk of Mati's ass again, I will make the rest of your life a literal... living... eternal... hell."

An audible gulp came from the Tengu. "Um... Yeah," he said. "Anyway... She left, pregnant with our child. She married a shinobi from a small clan who specialized in Katon jutsu—"

"The Uchiha," said Sasuke, interrupting Shukusatsu.

"Yeah, the Uchiha," said the demon. "She took his name, and each of the three children she bore were brought into the world without the Byakugan. She was relieved, as she had hoped to raise the children in peace... or relative peace, anyway. But eventually, the very first Sharingan activated, then another, then another. The clan realized the advantages of the doujutsu, and started a breeding program to inject the Sharingan into the Uchiha clan. Within a few generations, every member of the Uchiha was a descendent of that first Hyuuga."

"So... the entirety of my clan's existence came about because you were horny?" asked Sasuke.

Shukusatsu laughed aloud as he lit yet another cigar. "Yep," he said. "That's about right."

Sasuke's jaw literally dropped. "That's... unbelievable," he muttered. "That's fucking unbelievable. You're a real piece of work, Shukusatsu."

"... Says the kid who wants to kill his own brother," replied Shukusatsu.

Sasuke visibly flinched at the verbal barb. "That was low, Shuku," growled Sando as he pointed a finger at the Tengu.

Shukusatsu sighed as he inhaled a puff of cigar smoke. "So?"

Sando stared blankly at his compatriot. "What do you mean, 'so'? That's not the kind of thing you just—"

"Just what, Sando? I've been inside the kid's head for all of a day, and I already know him better than he knows himself!"

Shukusatsu turned his fearsome gaze toward the young Uchiha. "It's time for you to grow up, kid," he said harshly enough to make Sasuke wince. "Your brother killed your parents and everyone you ever knew from your family. Big deal. You're still alive." His eyes narrowed as he continued. "Kid, people die all the time. Every day, minute, and second, lives begin and end. One day, you'll be toast. Even demons like me and Sando, powerful bastard as he is, will die. That's life.

"Now, you can work your entire life around the idea that the only thing you can do to make it worthwhile is training to kill your big brother. But if you do that, I can guarantee you that you will never, ever be happy. You will be a cold, miserable husk of a man for the rest of your life. Even if you manage to finish him off, you'll never be satisfied." His expression softened somewhat. "I know what it's like to want revenge," he said more quietly. "It can eat at your soul, destroying you from the inside. It's not a pleasant experience. Life loses its meaning. The world loses its color. Light becomes darkness.

"I am one of the last of the Tengu. It's been so long since I've seen any of my clan, I might be the last one around. I mourned a long time ago. It pisses me off sometimes that it was probably some ninja who destroyed them, but it's the past."

Sasuke's face held an outraged expression. "What—then what do you suggest I do with my life?!" he roared at Shukusatsu. "Just forgive and forget? Let him get away with it?! Completely ignore the fact that he MURDERED MY ENTIRE FAMILY?!"

Shukusatsu's flinty eyes held Sasuke's. "No," he said softly. "But don't kill yourself in the quest to kill your brother." He sighed, then set his cigar in the tray to his side. "I've been inside your head, boy. You have a few issues to work out. You're close-minded, incredibly driven, manically focused, and are filled with incredible potential. These personality quirks, by themselves, aren't necessarily detrimental, but when combined, they make for a dangerous recipe.

"Sasuke... I'll tell you this, right here and now. You have the ability to become tremendously strong—but don't go after Itachi. You won't be strong enough for a long time, if ever. I went through your memories of the night of the massacre, and I saw his eyes, the same as you did—as you are now, or will be for a long time, you cannot beat the Mangekyou Sharingan."

Naruto cocked an eyebrow. "What is the Mangekyou Sharingan?" he asked as Sasuke seethed quietly at his side. "I've never heard of it."

The demon once again picked up his cigar and pulled a long drag on it. "Few have," he said, "And lived to tell about it. The Mangekyou Sharingan," he said, "is the evolved form of the regular Sharingan. The Sharingan bestows enhanced genjutsu abilities to Uchiha, as well as the famous mimicry talents the Uchiha have come to be famous for.

"The Mangekyou, however, has several more abilities than its pre-evolved form. The talents a Mangekyou user greatly overshadow those of any other Uchiha, and almost trump the rest of the shinobi world entirely. To my recollection, there has only ever been one shinobi in all the world who's ever been able to defeat the Mangekyou at its highest form."

"Who was it?" asked Hinata.

"The only person in all the world who could pacify any of the Great Bijuu, the tailed demons who had grown too powerful to remain safely with their clans... The first Hokage, Senju Hashirama."

"The Shodai?" exclaimed Sasuke. "The shinobi that beat Uchiha Madara for leadership of the village, and eventually drove him out of Konoha entirely?"

Shukusatsu nodded. "One in the same. One of the abilities of the Sharingan is to manipulate the Bijuu... the Mokuton, Senju's bloodline ability, had similar effects, but to a stronger degree. The Mangekyou's power is stronger than the regular Sharingan in that regard, but it still paled in comparison to the might of the Shodai."

"So, what're you saying?" asked Sasuke. "The Sharingan is worthless? That I'll never be strong enough to beat Itachi?" His jaw clenched. "I can't let him get away with this! I have to destroy him! It's my duty—my destiny—to kill my brother!" He turned his penetrating eyes onto Shukusatsu's. "To do that, I'll do anything. I'll do whatever it takes!"

Shukusatsu glanced over at Hinata, then Naruto. "Even fulfill the requirements to gain the Mangekyou?" he asked in a quite whisper. "Even that?"

Sasuke's brow knit together, and his mouth gaped slightly. He opened it to speak, then stopped himself. A wave of emotion crossed face as his hands gripped the wood of chair's arm rests, his knuckles burning white from the strain.

"What is he talking about?" asked Naruto. "Sasuke, what do you have to do to get the Mangekyou?"

"Will you tell them, little Uchiha," said the Tengu, "or will I?"

"I will!" growled Sasuke. "It's just... I don't want to do this! How could they trust me if I do? They're my—my friends... " He trailed off to himself. "... My only friends." He put his elbows on his thighs and his face in his hands. "Damn you, demon," he said softly. "As you've just damned me."

Sasuke raised his hands from his face and turned to Naruto and Hinata. "Please," he said to them, "please, don't hate me. I wouldn't blame you if you did, but... I'm begging you, don't."

Naruto was shocked. The great Sasuke, begging? What was going on?

"The way for an Uchiha to gain the Mangekyou... is for them to kill their closest friend."

The room was silent as a grave. The vast library around them seemed still as the dead, the books upon the shelves absorbing the sound of silence like a sponge to water. "Well," said Naruto, breaking the uncomfortable break in conversation, "that might complicate things a little bit." He smiled, though, at Sasuke. "I'm kidding, Sasuke. There's no way you'd kill me, not even to kill your brother."

Sasuke was stunned. "But... but how can you say that?!" he asked his companion.

Naruto chuckled, a smile growing on his lips. "Because," he said, "if you ever try to kill me... I'd just get you first!"

Sasuke paled, the blood draining from his face. It had never occurred to him that Naruto might be the one doing the killing. Looking back on himself, though, it seemed obvious—he hated to admit it, but Naruto was just a little bit stronger than he was, even without the Kyuubi's added power.

Sasuke turned his burning gaze to his demon. "You don't have to worry about me killing Naruto, or trying," he said to Shukusatsu. "I'll never need the Mangekyou. Whatever else I have to do, I'll not need that horrible power."

A strange expression came to Shukusatsu's face as Sasuke said those words. It was a mixture of approval and relief, with a dash of disbelief thrown in as well. "Well, I'm glad you feel that way," he said to his young host. "Because you'll never be allowed to gain the Mangekyou. Not so long as I'm around, anyway."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean? You'll stop me if... if I go insane and... "

"No," interjected Shukusatsu. "I'm saying, you'll never have the Sharingan in the first place, so there's no chance of you getting the Mangekyou anyway!"

Pure shock bolted across Sasuke's face like a blast of lightening—sudden, and without warning. "Never... the Sharingan?! The Sharingan in my clan's birthright! How can I never attain it?! My brother was able to unleash the Sharingan when he was 8, I should have gotten it by now! Why won't I be getting it?"

Shukusatsu puffed on his cigar, then stubbed it out. Naruto had lost count of how many the demon had smoked since they had sat down. "Do you remember when I told you that the Sharingan was created when I—" He stopped short as he felt Aoiryu's gaze upon him. Picking his words carefully, he continued, "—when I laid with a Hyuuga woman?" Sasuke nodded, so Shukusatsu continued. "The truth is, the doujutsu you have—or could have, anyway—was created completely by accident.

"There are several types of kekkei genkai—one of which is called 'angelic', due to the more spiritually pure beings on this planet bestowing them the abilities on a person or clan. The Byakugan is one of those abilities.

"The other type of kekkei genkai are called 'demonic' abilities, due to them either being bestowed by a demon—usually from demons like the Tengu or Oni, but more rarely from one of the Great Bijuu Clans. In extremely rare cases, the Bijuu themselves have been known to grant abilities to people, but they have tended to become extremely unstable in the long run, and almost never spread their abilities throughout a clan.

"There are instances of bloodline abilities doing one of three things—increasing in power due to clan intermingling, decreasing due to dilution of the blood, or mutating completely from an outside source. When the Hyuuga I slept with bore her child, the first modern Uchiha, she—yes, the first Sharingan user was a woman, Sasuke—it showed traits of multiple factors affecting her kekkai genkai. She was born from both a Hyuuga and a demon, who, I might add, was a powerful figure from a powerful clan. Together, we accidentally created one of the most incredible bloodline techniques this world has ever seen—" A slightly twisted grin appeared on his lips—"by accident."

Realization dawned on Sasuke's face. "Now," he continued, "I wonder what you and I could do to you if we put some time and effort into it?"

Something resembling joy shone from Sasuke's face. "You... you've got to be kidding me!" he exclaimed. "You mean, you can actually alter the Sharingan eye?"

Shukusatsu laughed aloud. "Who said anything about altering it? Kid, if this works... you'll have doujutsu the likes of which the world has never seen before!"

"And what's the catch?" Naruto asked.

Shukusatsu turned to the blonde. "Catch? Only that he behaves... " he turned back to Sasuke. "And by 'behave', I mean you stay away from Itachi until I think you're ready. Do you have a problem with that? If you do, we'll just go along as is, and you can keep the Sharingan... "

"No," said Sasuke immediately. "I'll wait. If you can give me the tools to destroy Itachi... I can wait a little while longer than I had thought I would."

Shukusatsu smiled at Sando and Aoiryu. "The young," he said wistfully. "So eager to make pacts that they don't know if they can keep."

"I'll keep my promise," said Sasuke. "I agree to your terms. We'll work together, for as long as you are with me."

Shukusatsu studied Sasuke's face for a moment, then grunted his acknowledgement. "Good," he said, then turned towards Sando. "Your turn, dog," he said with a grin. "Tell the little fox about his own inheritance."

Sando smiled. "I don't have to," he said. "Sarutobi got to him before I could."

Sasuke and Hinata turned to Naruto. "What is he talking about?" Sasuke asked. "What could the Hokage have to tell you about your demon that he couldn't tell you himself?"

Naruto flushed slightly. "Um... It's not exactly about the demon himself," he said. "More like... the first one to don the mask of the Inugami."

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow. "Oh, really?" he asked. "It wasn't your father or something, was it?" he said in a joking tone.

Naruto's slight hesitation in answering the Uchiha's question gave the answer much more quickly and effectively than words could have done. Sasuke's mouth dropped an inch, and Hinata audibly gasped. "You're kidding," she said. "Your father was the Inugami before you?!"

Naruto chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah," he said with a smile. "Weird, huh?"

Sasuke's brows knit together. "But, that can't be right," he said. "Shukusatsu, you told me that the former Inugami was the Yondaime, right?"

"Exactly right, kid," the Tengu said with a puff of cigar smoke. "That be correct."

"Then... " Dead silence followed as Sasuke was, for the first time in recent memory, at a loss for words.

"Naruto," said Hinata, "your father... Was _Namikaze Minato?!_"

"The _fuckin' __**Hokage?!**_" shouted Sasuke.

Simultaneously, "_**AND YOU DIDN'T TELL US?!?!**_" The Hyuuga and Uchiha locked eyes with each other, and as if agreeing silently, swung their hands in unison to smack Naruto on the back of the head.

"Ow!" he said. "I'm sorry, it just hadn't come up yet! I was going to tell you, I swear, I just hadn't had the chance! So stop hitting me, all right?"

Sasuke crossed his arms. "How long've you known, anyway, huh?" he asked.

"Just since last night," Naruto said with a sigh. "The old man wanted to talk to me, privately. It was kind of a personal thing, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," said Sasuke. "But when were you going to get around to telling us, huh?"

"It was just last night," replied Naruto. "And we didn't exactly get much chance to chat it up on the road, did we?"

Hinata smiled. "No, we didn't," she said, seeming to diffuse Sasuke's tension. "It's ok, we understand," she said while looking pointedly at Sasuke. "_Don't _we?"

Sasuke growled, but nodded. "Yeah, whatever," he grumbled. "But still... That's one hell of a coincidence, don't you think? Your father being the Hokage _and _the Inugami? And the mask finding its way to you? It's just... weird, you know?"

"It is weird," said Shukusatsu. "Weird, bordering on insane. But... here we are. Trust me, you'll get used to the madness, eventually."

The Sanseirei smiled as one. "I hope so," said Sasuke.

Hinata began poking her forefingers together, a nervous habit of hers that hadn't faded with her newfound confidence that she'd gained since joining with Naruto and Sasuke. These days, however, all it really meant was that she had a question she wanted to ask, but didn't know how to say it.

Aoiryu, it seemed, was able to pick it up. "Yes?" she asked her host. "What is it, dear?"

"Um... Well... You said earlier that we were getting some new powers, right? Is it a special ninjutsu or something?"

The demons traded glances, knowing expressions on their faces. "Well... Not exactly," said Sando. "What we will be giving you will vary. Aoiryu, you first, again, if you please."

The woman nodded. "My pleasure," she said as she once again focused her attention on the young Hyuuga heiress. "Young one," she said softly. "As you know, I was the one who bestowed the gift of the Byakugan upon your clan. However... It was a gift with some limitations, as you know."

"Limitations?" asked Naruto. "What do you mean?"

Aoiryu half-smiled. "I knew that, eventually, some of them might betray my shrine. Due to that, I slightly reduced the effectiveness of the Byakugan eyes. I implanted a blind spot behind the third thoracic vertebrae in the spine. The size of the blind spot varies from person to person, but it is always there. I had hoped that it would keep your clan somewhat humble, Hinata... Although I guess that plan didn't work out too well." She shrugged her graceful shoulders. "Oh well... You win some, you lose some.

"On the other hand, there were also some secondary abilities that I could have added to the Byakugan that I never did. I guess I was a little bit selfish, but I realized that the doujutsu was already powerful enough; adding many more techniques would have been overall detrimental, I think."

"The Hyuuga wasted your gift enough as it was," Shukusatsu barked. "You did right by them, and you know it. Stop beating yourself up over that, ok? It's gettin annoying."

Sando laughed, and even Aoiryu smiled. "Oh, hush," she said to Shukusatsu. "I could have made the most powerful doujutsu in the world, and I held back! How do you think I feel after two thousand years?"

"About the same as I when I realized that I accidentally created the Sharingan," he shot back. "We both could've made them better." A light shone in his flinty eyes. "And it's about time that we did, wouldn't you say?"

Aoiryu nodded, her soft face agreeing with him. "Of course," she said, a smile tugging on her lips.

Sasuke grunted. "What about me?" he asked his demon. "You already said you weren't going to enhance the Sharingan, so what powers will I be getting besides the new doujutsu?"

Sando laughed at his host. "Why is everyone so impatient today?" he asked rhetorically. "If a lifetime of immortality teaches you anything, it's patience."

Sasuke smirked. "I'm only twelve," he said. "I haven't learned patience yet, you know. Hell, I've barely learned to masturbate yet!"

Hinata gasped aloud as almost everyone in the room roared with laughter, save for Aoiryu, who herself was blushing along with the young girl. "Ok, ok, calm down!" shouted the dragon woman. "It wasn't that funny!"

That only made the men laugh all the harder, a tear actually forming in Sando's eyes. He wiped it with a knuckle as he visibly tried to calm himself. "It's-- It's just a guy thing," he said between laughs. "You wouldn't und--understand!" He pursed his lips, but was unable to hold the laugh inside and just blew up, rolling the three other males with him into another gale of laughter.

Aoiryu sighed and closed her eyes. "One... two... three... " she mumbled to herself. "Must not murder... must not murder... the men... "

Without warning, her eyes blazed open, shining white, similar to the Byakugan. But unlike the Byakugan, veins did not pop out on the temples. Instead, white light actually raged from her eyes, twin beams of conical brilliance flowing from her like blinding rays of sun.

_**"SHUT UP" **_she said, her voice carrying an undeniable vibration that forced obedience. Instantly, the men fell completely silent, even though their mouths kept moving. Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other in extreme puzzlement. Sasuke moved his lips, but no sound came out. Naruto, too, tried to speak, also to no avail. Panic set in their faces as Naruto put his hand to his throat and attempted to shout out loud. Sasuke looked hurriedly at Shukusatsu and pleaded silently and animatedly for answers. The demon merely shrugged helplessly and smiled sheepishly.

"W-what did you do to them?" Hinata asked Aoiryu, somewhat amazed that she herself could speak.

"I used one of the powers of the incomplete Byakugan," she growled as she tapped her fingers on the finished wood of her chair's arm. "It is simply called 'Obedience,' and is exactly what it sounds like. Under the right circumstances, you can make someone obey a simple command without question. Something like 'shut up' or 'go away' is relatively easy, but a command like 'cheat on your wife' or 'learn to fly' is impossible. The technique doesn't violate free will; instead, it forces someone to lose or use a simple bodily command involuntarily. The more complicated the command, the more chakra is consumed.

"It's possible to command someone to die, but for one such as you, even with my own chakra to supplement yours, it would drain you to nearly the point of exhaustion. People can, in extreme circumstances, voluntarily die, so it would be possible... But there are always more efficient ways to take care of your opponents."

Sasuke and Naruto were looking angrily at Aoiryu. "Oh, yes," she said casually at them. _**"SPEAK"**_ she said with blazing eyes.

"Ah!" Naruto breathed, finally able to vocalize. "That--that wasn't funny!" he exclaimed. "Don't ever ever do that again! That wasn't funny at all!"

Hinata laughed at her love. "I think she disagrees," said Aoiryu flatly. "At least someone was amused!"

Naruto stuck his tongue out at both women, but followed it up with a smile. "Whatever it takes to make her happy!" he said. Shukusatsu and Sasuke both groaned.

"Get a room," Shuku grumbled.

Naruto wiggled his eyebrows comically. "That's the eventual idea!" he said. "OW!" he shouted just after Hinata smacked the back of his head. "I was kidding, I swear!"

Sasuke rubbed his temples, a small headache developing. Did he really have to spend the rest of his life with these people? They were his friends, yes... But good god, they could be annoying. "As I was saying," he said after the laughter had died down, "what abilities will be given to me that made the former Tengu Sanseirei powerful?"

Shukusatsu instantly became serious. "So quick to get back to the point, are we?" he said softly to the boy. "So eager to gain the Tengu's power, he is." He looked into Sasuke's eyes. "Young man," he said, "do you have any idea what the power of the Tengu race is, at all?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes in thought. "I've read some stories," he replied. "Since we were told that we were going to be the next Sanseirei, I've read some on the Tengu. There are a lot of conflicting stories about you guys through the ages; some depict you as demonic birds, others ghosts. A few call you evil, some mischievous. Few agree with one another. It's said that you can control the wind with a fan, or possess people. I really didn't want to speculate too much, so I figured I'd wait until I was able to talk to you to figure out what's going on.

Shukusatsu nodded. "Wise words, young one," he said. "Wisdom is, contrary to what my beautiful comrade might think, a trait of the Tengu that we pride ourselves in.

"The abilities of the Tengu vary from demon to demon. What I can do is not necessarily the same as what my brother, or my father, can accomplish. Like you shinobi, we can learn many techniques, but often focus on one or two. Also like the shinobi of the old world, clans were often divided by distance and blood. My father, before he passed from demonic disease, taught my brother and I the power of the shadow world, from which my clan draws its power.

"The 'shadow world'?" questioned Sasuke. "What the hell is that?"

The demon's eyes lit up. "The shadow world," he said, "is one of many worlds that are right alongside this one. It is a realm of darkness, where not a shred of light can survive. In a way, it is the exact opposite of what the source of power for Aoiryu is; she gains her abilities from the realm of light."

"So... it's an evil power?" Hinata asked.

"Not at all," said Shukusatsu strongly. "It's no more evil than the light is good. Without light, shadow cannot be created. Without light, darkness has no definition. By the same token, without darkness, light has no definition. If there wasn't something there to block the light from the sun, nobody would be able to see. It's a balancing act, light and darkness.

"Aoiryu is a good being because she chooses to be. She could easily become evil if she wanted to. All those old stories about dragons going on a rampage and killing people that you heard all those years ago as children were based on true tales. The more power you have, the easier it is to become corrupted by it. 'With great power comes great responsibility' is something that we try to remember.

"Am I evil because I use the power of the shadow? Absurd," he said with a snort. "You know of the Nara clan, correct?"

"Shikamaru's clan?" said Naruto. "Yeah, what about them?"

A knowing smile came to Shukusatsu. "It was my brother who taught them to use the shadows all those years ago," he said. "He showed them how to use their chakra to open portals into the shadow world, allowing them to manipulate their own shadows in this world. He didn't endow them with a kekkei genkai, but showed them his own techniques. They learned much from him in his time with them... before my father executed him for sharing clan secrets. We took our secrets very, very seriously. Believe me, there was nobody more shocked than I that he would do something as audacious as that."

"So... You'll be teaching me how to use the shadows? Hell, my clan was close enough to the Nara that I could probably get them to teach me some of their techniques if I pressed the issue."

Shukusatsu smirked again. "Hey, I said that he had taught them their techniques. I didn't say that he had taught them _everything _he knew! And even if he had... I was a greater shadow master than my brother. Under my tutelage, you'll learn to use the shadows around you, not just your own. You'll be able to summon creatures born of darkness who've lived their entire lives without light. The night itself will be your weapon."

He visibly shuddered. "With what I intend to do to your eyes," he said more softly, "combined with the shadow powers I plan to teach you... Even I am starting to get afraid of you."

"You? Afraid of _me?_" said Sasuke in disbelief. "I'll just take that as a compliment!"

The Tengu chuckled. "Yeah, you should. Darkness fears little enough as it is. Fear is healthy, you know."

Naruto's hands had been shaking very slightly for a minute or so. Patience was not a gift that he had been blessed with! "Is it my turn yet?" the blond-headed shinobi asked anxiously. "C'mon, Sando, what awesome powers will I be getting from you? Will I be able to transform into a huge demon, or shoot lightning out of my mouth or something?"

Everyone in the room just stared blankly at the boy. "Has he always been this big an idiot?" Sando asked Hinata and Sasuke.

"Um... " said Hinata nervously.

"No," said Sasuke. "Really, it's only been since graduation that he's become less of a tight-ass."

Hinata giggle. "You two were almost identical at the academy," she said with a smile.

"Me? Tight-ass?" Naruto exclaimed. He then got an introspective look on his face. "Ok, maybe you're right... but at least I wasn't as doom-and-gloom as Mr. I'm-So-Great over here!"

"That's enough!" said Sando with a laugh of his own. "Listen, you've all changed since you've come together, and mostly for the good. But Naruto, really, you have to learn to hold your tongue a little bit more. True, ever since the permanent link between you and the Kyuubi has been disrupted you've become a lot more of a happy person, but you need to control your emotions a little bit more."

"Oh, I don't know," said Hinata. "He's a lot more enthusiastic than before, and it's honestly a big improvement... "

"Enthusiastic, huh?" said Shukusatsu, wiggling his rather prominent eyebrows suggestively at the young woman.

Without warning, a surge of energy flared from Aoiryu, literally went _around _Sando, and slammed Shukusatsu square in the chest, bowling him over the chair, tossing it aside, and sent him end over end down an aisle of the library. He slammed against one of the stacks, altering his angle to make him hit the opposite row of books. Volume after volume fell to the floor in his wake as he slid along the smooth wooden floor. Eventually, his momentum waned and, after bumping gently into the bottom row of books and jostling them lightly, came to a complete stop.

Cold fire burned in Aoiryu's eyes. "That," she said with a calm that was betrayed by her expression, "is strike one." Shukusatsu groaned as he propped himself up on an arm, his cloak a little more ragged-looking than before. A small trickle of blood dripped down his forehead and down his cheek. "Talk to her again as such, Shukusatsu, and nothing, I mean _nothing_, will protect you. I don't care about your personal scruples; they won't save you. I. Will. Destroy. You."

"S-s-scruples?" Sasuke asked extremely nervously, after seeing what this dragon had just done to his own demon.

"Shukusatsu refuses to fight or kill women," she said. "And he never let his other hosts, either. He may be a pig--" she cast a glance at Shukusatsu as he struggled to his feet, "--but he does have his lines." She rose to her feet and walked to the aisle where Shukusatsu had been cast. He had just risen to his feet and begun lumbering back toward the group.

"That-- That wasn't funny," he gasped.

"Perhaps not," she replied, "but this is."

"--" Shukusatsu wasn't even able to react to what she did next; she lightly tapped a knuckle on the bookshelf on her left.

"Heads up," she said casually.

"Huh?" He looked up, as she suggested, just in time for a particularly large tome to wham him on the head. Without preamble, he collapsed face-first on a pile of books before him.

Shocked looks greeted her as she turned back to the children and remaining demon. "What?" she asked, as if nothing in particular had happened. "_I _thought it was funny, at least."

Naruto gulped. "Is he-- ok?"

Aoiryu half-smiled. "He'll be fine," she said. "Remember, this is a dream world. Nothing is real. He'll be out for a while, but overall, he bounces back quite easily."

"Looks like we know where the real power lies with these guys," muttered Naruto.

"Believe it, child," Aoiryu said with a nod at Hinata. "So treat her right... Or you'll have _me _to deal with. Understand?"

A bead of sweat formed on Naruto's brow. "Crystal clear," he affirmed.

"Now," she said to Sando as another groan emanated from the book-strewn aisle, "weren't you about to tell young Naruto what gifts you will be lauding him with?"

"Huh? Oh, yes," he said, his composure mostly together. "Well, my natural-born power isn't as flashy as the Byakugan or control over the shadow world... but it's a gift that any shinobi worth his kunai would kill for.

"As you know, each of the nine great demon clans has its own traits that mark their identity; the Ichibi control sand and earth, the Bakaneko have abilities that concern water, and so on. But as the clan level grows, the abilities grow more powerful and complex. My clan, the Gobi, is a little bit different than the others. My father, Houkou, is the first and strongest five-tailed demon dog in our clan. Originally, his only real strength was his awesome, imposing physical power. Millennia ago, however, five sorcerers banded together to attempt to destroy him with elemental magic in an effort to defeat, or at least wound, him.

"They each used elemental spells of unparalleled level in unison in their battle. As one, wind, fire, water, earth, and lightening raged around the brute. Day after day, the battle raged, each one leaving all combatants that much more weary. Nobody slept, nobody ate, nobody rested. Collateral damage was astronomical; bystanders and nature destroyed by each side.

"After nine days of constant fighting, the sorcerers reached an agreement: Use their strongest, most forbidden and terrible spells in one massive attack in a last-ditch effort to destroy the monster."

He paused, the silence hanging heavy in the air. "It was then that Houkou discovered his only unique natural talent: The ability to destroy, deconstruct, absorb, and reconstruct nature in its most primal form. He literally _swallowed _the spells, and all of the power behind them. The elemental energy flowed into his tails, one to each.

"This ability has been passed down to each of his offspring, the theirs in turn. That, Naruto, is the source of the power of my clan, and what I offer you. With me, you will be able to absorb elemental techniques, store them, and redirect. It is a defensive and offensive ability in one, but I do warn you: The personal chakra necessary to do this is massive. At his prime, Minato was only able to do it three times a day, although no limit to what he could hold had ever been found."

Naruto's eyes were wide with awe. "That's-- incredible!" he exclaimed. "It's more than I ever expected, that's for sure!" Suddenly, he frowned. "Hold on," he said. "What happened to the sorcerers? Who stopped Houkou?"

Sando grinned. "Father ate them," he said with a smile in his words. "Hey, a guy's gotta eat, right? As for how he stopped, he found himself with too much power, and fell into hibernation in a lake for a couple hundred years. When he woke up, he began the clan that is the Gobi."

"Punk," said Shukusatsu as he propped his chair back up and took his place to the side of Sando. "You tailed bitches have it easy. Try living in the real world sometime." The blood stains on his face had disappeared, as had the wound. In this world, it seemed, nothing was permanent. With a glance, Naruto confirmed that even the books had put themselves back on the shelves.

The dog in question laughed. "Hey, at least we're not the Kitsune," he said. "They're worse than we are!" With a start, Sando remembered that his host was the jinchuuriki of the very Kyuubi no Kitsune himself. "Uh, no offense," he said to his host.

"None taken," replied Naruto. "He is kind of a bastard, I know."

"'Kind of a bastard' is an understatement, kid," said Sando.

"Be that as it may," said Aoiryu, "We've taken enough of their time and energy. It takes a significant amount of chakra to maintain the link for a long period of time, and quite frankly it's more tiring to just walk the distance you must instead of running using chakra."

"Agreed," said Shukusatsu, though whether he said that because he agree with her or because he was afraid to contradict her wasn't known. "Get some real sleep, kids. You'll need everything you got for tomorrow. Sleeping outdoors is more tiring than you might think."

"Wait!" said Sasuke. "When will you change my eyes? Or Hinata's? Or any of the things that you promised us?"

The Sanseirei exchanged glances. "We'll talk after this mission is over," said Sando. "We will each want uninterrupted time to teach you about your new gifts, and we don't want you experimenting on your own in the middle of someone who could cause trouble for you."

"That makes sense," said Hinata. "I can wait. I'm in no hurry."

Aoiryu's eyes softened as she looked upon her spiritual descendent. "I know, child," she said. "But we will always be here for you if you need us. Just find a place to lie down and call upon us, and we will answer."

Naruto nodded, then abruptly yawned. All of a sudden, he felt so, so tired. Almost immediately following, Hinata and Sasuke followed suit, nearly simultaneously. "Sleep, children," Aoiryu said softly as the three grew more and more drowsy. "Sleep, and rest. Tomorrow is... "

But whatever tomorrow was, Naruto didn't hear it. Before he fell completely into slumber, he grabbed Hinata's hand into his and smiled at her, and it was returned. _Sweet dreams, _he mouthed at her before they blacked out completely. A faint squeeze let him know she understood...

And they were sweet dreams indeed.

A/N: Yeah, yeah, I know, you hate me. No action, no lemon. Ugh, I'm tired, and I need something to eat. Dinner time. Yah, din din!

Everything's pretty much self-explanatory. Don't need to beat you over the head with a long-ass note. People hate that. I do, anyway.

This is it! Talk to you next time around!

Now, get out of my face!


	10. Calm Before the Storm

Hey, ya'll. Remember me? It's been a while. I've been workin way too much lately, and it's really been a pain in the ass. I've not been able to write as much as I want to, and it's killing me inside with all of the plans I have for this fic. I'll get to it all eventually, but I don't know when.

In the meantime, I'll post what I have. It's not that much, but it'll have to do. Hell, it's not even the 10k mark I usually want to get to before I post. I'm really sorry if I disappointed you as much as I did myself. I'm so tired right now, I want to collapse. I just want to put this up right now, and get on with the rest of the story tomorrow.

No lemons here. I just can't get it done right. I wrote it twice, and it just didn't feel right. I'll probably get it next time, but I'm done making promises I just can't keep. God, this just is so messed up right now. Sorry if I disappoint, again.

While it's on my mind, I'll get it off my chest. I only got 13 reviews for the last chapter. Man, with all the time I put in it, you'd think I'd get more feedback than that. If I don't get a little more back than that, there's a chance I might not continue with this thing.

I'll stop whining… now, time for some fan mail answers.

Timeshifter: I kept my promise! No lemon, but at least you got a few minute's Naruto fic fix.

**HEE-HO KING: They are hilarious. Glad you like.**

**Graity The Wizard: I'm here for the long haul.**

**Aikori Shukrai: Glad you liked it. Good luck figuring it out. Have fun!**

**Infiniteternity: Thanks for the glowing review. I'll do my best to make sure I do as well next time.**

**Silver Warrior: It was hilarious! **

**Dragon Man 180: It has to be an elemental ability, but it can be any ability thrown at him. Just you wait, it will be sweetness incarnate!**

**Third Party: Fatigue is a way of life for me. Thanks for catching that.**

**Xardoth: Glad you dig it. **

**djz3r0310: Another glowing review. That's the kind of thing I live for, brother. Appreciate the offer for help, but… Man, I just gotta keep the lemon thing to myself. Can't be outsourcing the porn!**

**Narutos Vixen: Your wish is my command.**

Ok, that's enough of that. I gotta go to work. Enjoy the fic (short though it is) and get back to me.

* * *

**Chapter 10**

Naruto, Hinata, Sasuke, and Kakashi made their way down the main marketplace of the last good-sized town on their journey to their final destination to the lord's manor.

Dozens of people surrounded them, hundreds of individuals, men and women, old and young. Kasugai was a prosperous, bustling town, made so by being one of the central cities in the trade routs that River, Rain, Grass, and Waterfall countries all used at one point or another. All around them, smiles abounded. People were happy with their lives, and any kind of police force didn't seem to be too heavy, an indication that crime was a minor annoyance, at best.

The people gave the quartet a respectful breathing space, due to the swords strapped to various parts of their bodies—on Naruto, it hung from his right shoulder to his left hip, and Hinata's wakizashi was tied across the small of her back. Sasuke and Kakashi both preferred to wear their blades in the more traditional manner in display on their opposite-handed hip. Few real samurai were visible anywhere that they could see, and no shinobi presence in any form was obvious.

They had avoided towns and villages for the most part for the majority of their travels, so as to maintain a sense of anonymity. In that time, they had spent every night outdoors, usually with a campfire nearby, but on the occasional evening that rain had dampened their spirits, they had been forced to resort to setting up their small one-man tents... although Hinata and Naruto learned early on how to turn a single into a double in a pinch.

This foray into the heart of a town the size of Kasugai was the first time in over three weeks that they had had more contact with people than an occasional that they had had more contact with people than an occasional passing on the back roads.

It was early evening, and the sky was just beginning to darken into dusk. A few stands and stalls had closed early, but the majority of storefronts and shops remained open to customers. Restaurants and stores selling all types of food and wares bustled with activity, the former with early dinner-goers and the latter with late shoppers.

Never had Naruto, Hinata, or Sasuke been in a town the size of Kasugai. They'd spent almost all of their life in Konoha, only leaving, for the most part, to train in the outlying forests. Konoha, unlike the majority of communities in the world, had a specific purpose in the world: provide a military service for those who could afford to hire their shinobi. The entire purpose of the village was to house the various ninja who held loyalty to the Leaf and provide a variety of tactical and logistical support to the rest of the villagers who chose to live there.

It was a common misconception that only shinobi live in ninja villages. The truth couldn't be further from the truth; of the fifteen thousand people who lived in Konoha, only three thousand of them were licensed shinobi. The rest were family members, merchants, businessmen, or support staff.

Kasugai, however... was unlike anything the trio had ever seen. Everywhere they looked, a dozen different stores sold a dozen dozen different products that they had never imagined existed. Yes, there had been stores in Konoha, but they had either sold the essentials or novelties for children, save for a few specialty shops.

_Um, Sando... is that what I think it is?_ Naruto asked the dog demon.

**Heh heh... It sure is,** he replied. **Aww, don't get embarrassed, kid. Some of the men on the road go weeks at a time without company. Businesses like that are almost a necessity!**

_Suuure_, thought Naruto. _Whatever you say, mutt._

Naruto heard Sando chuckle as he receded back into his corner of the communal consciousness shared among the spirits of the Sanseirei. _Pervert_, Naruto thought with some humor. Kami, he's almost as bad as the fox!

"Okay," said Kakashi/Nagano brightly. "We have two choices right now. We can either stay here for the night and get a move on in the morning and be at our destination by early evening, or travel through the night and get there before dawn. What do you say?"

The children exchanged a glance with expressions of anticipation. "STAY!" they said as one, eliciting a laugh from their older escort.

"I don't know about them," said Naruto/Seijuro, "but I'm tired as hell of sleeping outside all the time. We want real beds for once!"

"I second that!" piped in Hinata/Misao.

"Third," followed Sasuke/Tanaka lazily.

"Motion carried," Kakashi said lightly. "So, what do you want to do right now?"

"Sleep," moaned Naruto. "We've been walking for weeks, all I want to do is lay down for a couple days and hibernate!"

Kakashi chuckled. "That's not going to happen, kid," he said. "Not for that long, anyway. But we can check into an inn and clean up... Let's face it, we all need a shower; quick river washes just aren't cutting it anymore."

"Yeah," said Sasuke. "No offense, Seijuro... actually, I do mean to offend—you kinda stink. I don't know how Misao can stand being next to you!"

Naruto smiled. "My shining personality and witty humor, I'd expect," he replied with a laugh. "You might want to start taking notes when I turn on the charm, Tanaka-kun!"

Hinata snorted. "You know," she said, a mischievous smile on her lips, "you're both right. You are kinda funny... and you really, really need a bath!"

Naruto stopped dead, dumbfounded, as the rest of the group walked on. "Not funny!" he shouted as he ran after them, causing some townspeople to glance over at him. "I don't stink!"

.........

An hour later, the sun was noticeably lower on the horizon and had begun to change hue from yellow to orange, and was just beginning to go into the red phase. Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata were sitting around a small table at an outside noodle stand, eating for the first time in weeks food that one of them hadn't prepared themselves. After saying that he would pay the bill when he got back, Kakashi had left them to go find someplace for them to stay the night.

Naruto was already on his fourth bowl of ramen before he started to slow down, while Hinata and Sasuke had barely finished their first. "More please!" Naruto shouted as he thrust his empty bowl into the air, the chopsticks inside barely managing to remain in it.

The shopkeeper shook his head in bemusement; never had he seen anyone eat so much at one sitting! "One more miso, coming up!" he said with a grin. This was going to be one hell of a tab!

There were perhaps a dozen more people around them, most of whom were with someone else, almost all talking loudly. Apparently, they had stumbled across some sort of fair night; stands were beginning to set up all up and down the marketplace and paper lanterns by the dozen were being lit every hour. Already, a festive atmosphere permeated the air as men, women, and children dressed in yukata made their way up and down the street, often passing quite close by to the three undercover shinobi. Laughing children danced around their parents, young men and women walked together, and girls and boys shyly held hands as they traveled side-by-side in the early twilight.

The waitress who worked at the ramen stand brought Naruto's latest bowl of miso ramen over to their table. Earlier, he had noticed that she had a remarkable resemblance to Ayame from Konoha. Do all ramen waitresses look like that? he asked himself as she brought his latest bowl over to him with a smile on her lips. That's just freaky.

"Father's been gone for a while now," Sasuke said as he slurped up the last of his own bowl of pork ramen. "It shouldn't take this long to find a room around here. I saw enough inns on the way here, so where could he be?"

"Dunno," Naruto said through a mouthful of noodles. "But if he's not back soon, I'm going to give him a piece of my mind, I can tell you that!"

Hinata and Sasuke looked at Naruto, eyes wide open. Or rather, behind Naruto. "He's...Standing right behind me, isn't he?" Naruto asked neutrally as he set his bowl and chopsticks down.

"Yes, I am," Kakashi said with a smile as comedic horror fell on Naruto. "Sorry for taking so long, kids... I got lost on the path of life."

Naruto twisted in his seat to look up at his guide. "Uh, N-Nagano-sensei," Naruto stammered. "Heh—um, what's up?" he asked with a weak grin.

"Hmm...Just waiting for a piece of your mind, Seijuro-kun," Kakashi said with a slight smile. "Am I going to get one today?"

"N-no, sir!" Naruto said. "I was just... uh... I'll shut up now, if that's ok with you."

"I never complain about silence from you," quipped Sasuke, his developing sense of humor showing itself. Ever since he'd bonded with Shukusatsu, his personality had changed into a somewhat lighter hue than before. He was no longer as moody as he used to be; instead, he seemed to come out of his shell more and more every day. "Silence is golden, after all."

Hinata interrupted before the two could start arguing. "So, where were you, Sensei?" she asked Kakashi. "We really were beginning to wonder."

Kakashi pulled the one remaining chair from under the table out and sat down on it. "Well, there's good news, and bad news," he began.

"Uh-oh," muttered Sasuke. "Here we go."

"Well... It's not really bad news," Kakashi went on. "The festival in this town has attracted tourists from miles around. Just about every hotel and inn has either been reserved or taken by now. I must have went to seven or eight places before I found an available room for us. It's somewhat pricy, but affordable.

"The bad news is, I know we all want to sleep on something other than bare ground, and the only two rooms left have one bed each. They're big enough for two, though, so I rented the both of them for the night. We'll split up; Tanaka and I will take one room, and the two of you will have the other."

Naruto choked on his ramen as it went down his throat. With a sigh, Sasuke hit him on the back hard enough to jolt his esophagus and allow him to swallow. "We- we're sharing?!" he said. "Me and her? Alone for the night?"

Kakashi rubbed his temple and sighed. "How did I know this would happen?" he mumbled to himself. "Seijuro," he began, "I didn't plan on it ending up like this. But I know that you love Misao, and you haven't spent any time together alone at all in a long time, and I just thought it'd be a lot easier on us all if you two just relaxed for once.

"Tonight is a festival, after all—we have a big day ahead of us, tomorrow," he said, dropping his voice in volume, "and this is possibly the only time you will have together alone for a while. "Have fun, play some games. Be kids. You're all growing up so fast, we sometimes forget how young you really are. Most people your age... don't have to worry about the same things we do. I just don't want these last days you have of innocence wasted. Do you get it?"

"I—Yeah, I think I get it, Nagano-sensei," Naruto said. Hinata and Sasuke both nodded with him. Hinata grabbed his hand and held it in hers tightly. "Tomorrow will change a lot for us. We... Thanks, Sensei." Naruto was at a loss for words; he knew that Kakashi could lie just as easily as breathe, so he didn't know if this set-up was intentional or not. He certainly wouldn't put it past his master.

"You're welcome," Kakashi said. "Are you ready to go?" he asked as he scooted away from the table.

Naruto gulped down the last of his meal. "I am," said Sasuke. "I need a good shower."

"Check, please," Kakashi said in the direction of the ramen stand loudly enough for the waitress to hear him.

Naruto suddenly got nervous. He stood up and almost dragged his girlfriend to her feet. He grabbed his pack and indicated to Hinata that she should do as well. He started walking in a random direction with her in tow just as the waitress brought the check to Kakashi.

"SEIJURO!"

Naruto's face fell. "Busted," he mumbled.

"That's what you get for being a pig," Hinata said with a laugh.

He sighed. "Oh, well," he said. "Might as well go face the music."

He turned back toward the table, but Hinata latched onto his arm. "Not without me, you don't," she said as she looked into his masked eyes. "I'll be by your side for anything that happens."

Naruto smiled. "I know," he said. "That's just another thing I love about you."

"Ahhh..." Naruto mumbled as he sank deeply into the soft comforter of the bed that was provided in his and Hinata's room. "This is the life..." He had barely had enough time to close his eyes in relaxation before Hinata grabbed his feet and yanked him off of the bed with a stiff tug, forcing him to fall at her feet.

"Ouch!" he said as he looked up at her from his lying position. "What was that for?"

She smiled at him. "Neither of us has had a decent wash in three weeks," she said to him as she rummaged through his backpack for some clean clothes. "Find something clean to wear..." She stopped after a moment of frustration when she realized that they hadn't had a chance at all to do any laundry in that space of time either. "We don't have anything that' clean at all, do we?"

"Uh...No, I don't think so," said Naruto sheepishly. "Wait...I think I have some boxers in there that I forgot about in the side there..."

Before Naruto could finish his sentence, Hinata had found the underwear in question and dropped them on his face. Naruto reacted as comically as he was wont to do in recent weeks, possibly as a side-effect of partnering up with Sando. "Take a shower, ok? There's a yukata in the closet—I checked with my Byakugan. But don't take all of the hot water, I'm next!"

Naruto sighed. "Fine, fine," he grumbled as he got off of the floor and pulled the white cotton robe out of the small closet. "I'll be out in ten minutes, ok? So no peeking with the Byakugan!"

Hinata's face was the perfect picture of innocence. "Who, me?" she asked. "Peek? I hadn't even though of it."

Naruto looked sideways at her as he walked to the somewhat opulent bathroom. "Riiight," he said with a smile as he walked past her. Without warning, he quickly turned around and kissed her on the lips, momentarily stunning her into submission. "Hold that thought," he whispered softly as he broke the connection. "To be continued!" With a satisfied smile, he closed the door, but didn't lock it, confident that he had won that round... but perhaps not the war. I'll just have to live to fight another day!

Hinata silently fumed as Naruto turned on the water and began his shower. _That... That ass!_ she thought as she sat down in one of the comfy chairs in a huff. _He thinks he can just kiss me like that and keep me hanging on, does he? Thinks I won't peek, will I? Well, I'll show him!_

Hinata took a deep breath, then let it out. "I'm really doing this," she mumbled to herself. She closed her eyes, then silently activated the Byakugan. Curiously, instead of her temples popping with veins, her irises shone silvery-white, closer to their natural hue than her current disguise's.

She focused her sole attention on what was happening on the other side of the wall. In a flash, she took everything in that she could from the room—the separate shower and bathtub, the sink, the toilet, even the mats on the floor. Then, she saw Naruto... as he was bending down from a standing position to take off his socks, his pants and underwear already on the floor.

"Eep!" she said as she took in a full view of Naruto's ass in all its glory. She was lucky she was already sitting down, or she might have fallen over in a stunned stupor. She had felt that particular part of his anatomy several times before, but never before had she seen it.

It flexed as Naruto lifted up his leg to remove his sock, and Hinata then saw his penis as he moved to the side. It flopped around as he shifted his body weight, and even flaccid it was more than she had ever imagined.

Naruto turned his body around so that he was facing her as he grabbed the hem of his shirt with his arms crisscrossed and pulled the t-shirt he was wearing up and over his head, giving Hinata an almost unobstructed view of the front of his body. Hinata was amazed—she had seen Naruto without his shirt on several times before, but never before had she seen anything quite this... glorious.

Hinata felt something begin to warm up inside of her. She'd felt this sensation before when she was very close to Naruto, but now it was magnified by an unbelievable magnitude that she couldn't believe. It was like a core of energy was welling up inside of her, slowly and gently but surely expanding into something that she was as of yet unfamiliar with. Her pulse began to race, and she felt her own temperature go up all over her body. Small drops of sweat began to form on her brow, and her breathing became just the slightest bit labored.

_W-what's going on?_ she asked herself. _Am I getting sick?_

**No, darling, you are not ill,** Aoiryu said to her, responding to her host's thoughts. **Your body is simply responding to what you are now seeing.**

_Oh, Aoiryu!_ Hinata mentally said. _I didn't know... erm... that you were here too!_

Hinata heard the spirit chuckle. **I am always here with you, child,** she said. **There is nothing you see or hear that I do not as well. It is my job to help you, guide you. And if that means that I assist you in attaining you man... so be it.**

_Attain my man?_ Hinata said. _I don't—I mean, I don't..._

**I know what you want, young woman,** Aoiryu said to Hinata, **just as much as you do. You want him more than everything else; I can see it in your heart.**

_But I already have him!_ Hinata protested. _For almost three months I've had him!_

Even though she couldn't see her, Hinata knew that her dragon was shaking her head. **My dear, that is not what I meant, and you know it.**

Hinata bit her bottom lip. _I know,_ she said after a minute of mental silence as she watched Naruto climb into the shower and turn on the water. She smiled as the water hit his body and he yelped; apparently, the cold had hit him before it could turn hot. It was some of the little things like that that made her love him—as good as a person as he was, as strong and brave and smart and all of the things that she didn't think that she was, he was still human, just like her. He wasn't a monster, or a demon, or anything of the such.

He was her Naruto, and she wouldn't change a single thing about him.

_I know what you meant,_ Hinata continued. _I've been thinking about it for a while, now. But... Aoiryu-chan, I have to ask you something, something that's been bothering me for a couple weeks now._

A moment of silence followed Hinata's statement. For just a second, she was worried that Aoiryu wouldn't respond. Her fears were alleviated, however, when she spoke back. **As you wish, child. Speak.**

Hinata let out a breath that she didn't know that she had been holding. _It's just... I've noticed a few things that have begun to make me wonder what the side effects of the mask and our bond is. A week after I put on your mask, my muscles began to strengthen, I'm faster, and...well... my chest is getting a little bit bigger. Do you have anything to do with that?_

Hinata felt a smile come from Aoiryu. **You are astute,** she said. **Yes, I have had a hand in that. But I am not doing it in any way that would harm you; I am merely changing your body into what it could be if you pushed yourself to your maximum potential. Few people ever achieve everything that they could be; with my help, you will always be as strong and healthy as possible.**

_But... what about my breasts?_ Hinata asked, a blush forming on her face. _How does that keep me healthier?_

Aoiryu chuckled again. **Well... it might not necessarily make you healthier,** she said, **but you have a frame that could easily support a larger chest when you get older. Some women don't have the right body type for attributes such as that, but you do. Also, you have gone through a period of your life where your body changes rapidly lately. All I have done is accelerate that portion of your growth by a few months or so. Trust me, my dear, it would have happened sooner or later. The same is probably being done to the boys, too, so you are all in the same boat, so to speak.**

_Oh..._ Hinata thought. _Well. Well then. I... um... Thank you, Aoi-chan, I guess. No, I appreciate it! I do! But..._

**You would have preferred that I let you know beforehand if I was going to do something like that?** Aoiryu said, finishing Hinata's sentence.

_Exactly!_ Hinata though-spoke. _I need to know how to take advantage of everything we can do together, right?_

Hinata felt the affirmation from Aoiryu. **You are correct, dear,** she said. **But right now, I believe that you have some more pressing issues to deal with.**

Hinata cocked an eyebrow. _Like what?_ she asked.

**Like how you are going to get that boy naked and in the same bed as you,** Aoiryu said to her host, making her gasp in shock. **Oh, be quiet,** she said with a laugh. **You both are more grown up than you think, and I know you want him.**

_How am I supposed to do that?_ Hinata asked. I'm not really that good at romance, you know.

Aoiryu snorted. **Who said anything about romance?** the dragon asked. **I know men. Listen to me, and you will have claimed him as your own, for as long as you want.**

_Forever,_ replied Hinata. _I want him forever._

**Do you trust me?** asked Aoiryu.

_Yes_, Hinata said. _I trust you, Aoi-chan._

A warm feeling came from inside of her soul. **Good,** Aoiryu said. **Now, listen to me, and do what I tell you. I have had some experience with males of several species... they are all the same. When he gets out of the shower, hop right on in. I will tell you everything after that. Have faith, child... I know what I am doing.**

_Oh...ok, Aoi-chan,_ Hinata said. _I hope you know what you're doing._

**I do, child, I do. Just be patient, and I promise you that this will be a night you will never, ever forget.**

* * *

Naruto lay smack dab on the middle of the bed, hands under his head with his legs spread out to their fullest extent. This was the first proper bed that he'd been able to lay in for quite some time, and he was enjoying it as much as possible. He was relaxed, but in no way sleepy.

_What's going on with Hinata?_ Naruto asked himself. _She was acting kinda weird earlier. Did I do something wrong? Is she mad at me? Why are women so confusing?_

Naruto heard a snicker from inside his psyche. **Hell if I know, kid,** Sando said to him. **Women of any kind are not something that I've ever understood. Hell, my sister was one of the biggest hellcats I've ever known, and she was a right horrible bitch!**

_Um... That's not a nice thing to say about your sister!_ Naruto said to Sando.

**What, calling her a hellcat?** Sando asked, genuine confusion in his "voice."

Naruto laughed. _No, calling her a bitch!_

Sando laughed back at him. **I think you're confused here, kid,** he said. **You see, it is an insult to call one of the Gobi a cat. The Gobi and the Neko have a... well, we'll call it a "rivalry" to be kind. Originally, the Neko were granted power over the dead, which is why they cannot be truly killed, only defeated. Reincarnation is a skill of theirs that even the Kyuubi himself envies.**

**One word of advice, kid,** Sando continued. **Don't tell my sister I said that, if you ever meet her.**

Naruto grinned at the voice in his head. _And why's that, oh fearless dog?_ he asked.

Even though he couldn't be seen, Naruto could feel the blush on the dog's face. **She... well... she might try to kill me. And the only way to kill me is to go through you... so the best thing for us all is to keep our mouths shut, right?**

Naruto laughed aloud at Sando. _Yeah, yeah,_ he said to him. _Whatever you say, dog._ Naruto thought for a moment. _Exactly how would I meet her?_ he asked. _It's not exactly like I can just pack my bags and go on a trip to your homeland, right?_

**Heh heh... just trust me,** Sando said. **One of these days, you'll meet some more of my family, one way or another. We have ways of keeping in touch over long distances. Hell, you might even meet my father, if he's still alive and kicking.**

_Your father?_ Naruto asked. _Wait, isn't he one of the Great Tailed Demons? One of the nine famed Bijuu claimed by the Rock village?_

Sando sighed. **Yes, that is him,** he said. **Of the nine Bijuu, he was one of two given to Earth country after the first Shinobi World War. Your Shodai used his unique abilities to manipulate him into compliance, but his spell disintegrated when he died.**

**You see, Naruto, the Bijuu aren't like most other demons in this world. They are the first, the original monsters. They were crafted in the images of creatures already of this world, and given unnatural power. But for one, there was little real intelligence among them, and not a lick of conscience.**

**Animal instinct was what they were given. Somehow, they mated with their kind, and a new race of demon was born into this world. My father sired eleven pups, and we each gained a small portion of his power. Eventually, as we grew older and more powerful, we each grew more rational and sentient than Father.**

**The other Bijuu did the same, except for Shukaku... for some reason, he was a beast completely made of sand, and couldn't reproduce in the same manner as the rest of them. Instead, he made clones of his physical body and imbued them with his own demonic aura. Most of them gained their own awareness, and acted similarly to the rest of the Bijuu offspring. Demonic clans of various sizes formed, and over the course of a thousand years or so, grew into prosperity.**

_So, where is everyone now?_ Naruto asked. _If they used to be here, and they're not now, then something must've happened to them, right?_

Sando sighed again. **That is correct, youngling,** he said. **Shortly before I was captured with Shukusatsu and Aoiryu, a mass hunting of all of the clans had begun. The vast majority of the Beast Demon clans were opposed to wanton destruction, but there was no reigning in the Bijuu themselves. Even the weakest of them, Shukaku, was able to easily overpower most of the rest of us. At the time, only six, maybe seven, had the power available to oppose the Kyuubi together, and it would require all of our combined energy and wiles to merely stall him.**

_So, what happened?_ Naruto asked.

Sando was silent for a few moments. Naruto could sense that whatever he had to say next would be difficult for him. **Someone make a... mistake. A very, very big mistake, and none of us know for sure who it was.**

**There have always been humans who've been special. Those who have been able to do things that must have seemed like miracles. I told you already about the sorcerers who tried to destroy my father. They were each perfectly in tune with their individual elemental affinities. But I would be lying if I said that they were using elemental chakra, or ninjutsu of any kind. They were born with those abilities, and grew up training themselves in their art.**

**Only one out of every hundred thousand people in this world are born differently than normal,** he said with a sigh. **It is always these people who consider themselves either more special than the rest of their kind, or above the general rules. Sometimes, being special isn't enough, though. They begin to crave power, control, prestige. One of the progeny of the Great Demons showed a gifted young man the secrets of the seals that we used in our clan techniques. Somehow, he gained enough knowledge to learn to seal, not only the demons in the area, but anything that they felt was supernatural or inhuman. Every spirit, every demon, down to the last sprite, was rounded up... or so they think.**

**The truth is, only a handful of us were actually captured. Five, maybe six demons in total were contained by the humans in the beginning... not counting us Sanseirei, of course.**

_Where did everyone go?_ Naruto asked. _It's not like they just up and disappeared and nobody noticed! You said the children of the Bijuu created clans, right? There must have been SOME interaction with people!_

A mental sigh came from Sando. **In this, you are right,** he said. **We did have a platonic relationship with humans. Each clan needed a certain space to flourish, away from anyone else. We claimed territory, and respected the boundaries for the most part. Any human stupid enough to come into our territory... well, some of us were more benevolent than others, let's say.**

**When the humans began to hunt us down, the more talented spellcasters among us hunted for a solution for the problem. We had two options: run from those hunting us down, those who invaded our territory, and hope that they would give up the chase eventually, or wage outright war on humanity until they stopped.**

**For nearly a year, the clans argued over what should be done. Six of the clan heads gathered together to discuss the situation; the Kitsune, the Tanuki, the Sanbi, Mujina, and Raijuu clans were all represented by the most wise of their clans. The Orochi butt in on the summit, claiming that all who could be affected by the situation should have a vote. Reluctantly, the five elemental clans agreed, but not before the snake gave his word to hear out all other arguments. You see, of all of the Bijuu clans, only the Orochi were inherently violent and bloodthirsty. That is a story for another time, however... the more pressing one is at hand.**

Naruto had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He somehow knew that this story was about to turn ugly... very ugly.

**Someone... betrayed the summit,** Sando said, fury barely held in check, even though his mental voice strained. **The six demon representitives had changed their forms to resemble humans, so that they might meet more easily in neutral ground. When a demon goes from beast to human, it takes a moment to fully adjust; our eyes, our noses—everything is different. It is like vertigo, only the opposite; sometimes, it's nausea-inducing to be so close to the ground.**

**They had gathered together as demons, but transformed as one to human. As their senses were adjusting... they struck.**

Naruto felt a black pause come from Sando. It was as if it was difficult beyond measure for him to reenact this tale. _It...it's ok, Sando,_ he said to the dog. _You don't have to finish the story if you don't want to. I know how hard it can be for you to think about this kind of thing._

Naruto felt Sando shake his head against his consciousness. **No... No, I can finish. I don't have that much more to go. I always finish what I start, child, and I'm not about to break that reputation now.**

**As the six were growing accustomed to their newly-formed senses, six warriors with blades enchanted by complex seals specific to their clans rushed the demons and, in one fell swoop, slew them.**

**Now, the blades themselves were formed specifically to kill the members of the summit, but they had an unintended side-effect: they absorbed, to the individual, all the power of the demon. Five of them took in the elemental power of the beasts, and the sixth became the sword that is today known as Kusanagi.**

**The five warriors used the swords to establish the power, political and militaristic, now known as the Five Nations: Earth, Wind, Lightening, Water, and Fire. Over time, the swords themselves have changed hands, many times over the years, but it was their actions that brought about the world you now know.**

Sando stopped talking for a moment, but faithfully resumed. **A... a month later, I was captured, along with Shukusatsu and Aoiryu. As to your earlier question—where did everyone else go?**

**The demonic clans banded together, unilaterally, for the first time ever. They pooled their energy together to open a gateway to another world, a world devoid of humans, of shinobi, of war and strife. There, they are safe, and they don't have to hide. My—my family is there. My son is there. And guess what? I've never met him.**

Sando was silent for a long, long time as Naruto listened to the sounds of Hinata showering. Guilt pulled at his gut like a fish on a hook. _Sando... I... I don't know what to say. "I'm sorry" just doesn't seem like it would cut it._

**It's not your place to apologize, young one,** Sando said. **It wasn't your fault. Not a thing you could do. This all happened way, way before your time.**

**I hate humanity as a whole. The race is, generally, corrupt. I hate the species. But it's people that make this fight worth the effort. People like you, like the Hokages... like your father. You are good people. As a general rule, Leaf ninja are good people. Sure, some of them are asses, but the teachings of the Shodai are strong, even today. Unlike the Sand or River or Cloud, the individual strength is not stressed.**

**Naruto... One day, you will lead the Leafs of Konoha. You will be the one every shinobi looks up to. I sense inside of you the same spark your father had; I have faith that it will eventually blaze into the Will of Fire that consumed your father all of his life.**

**But... enough. There's no point to this right now. Listen:**

Naruto tuned his ears, and realized that the sounds of the shower had stopped. _Hinata's about to come out,_ he said to himself. _I better get up. What'll she think if I'm just lazing about?_

**Patience, young one,** Sando said. **Things will come as they come. The future will come when it's good and ready. The past is something you can only remember or forget. But the now... it is a gift. That's why it is called the "present." Treat it as such; enjoy what you will be given today.**

_Given?_ Naruto asked.

Naruto heard Sando chuckle once again. **You'll see,** he said. **You'll see. But for now... It's time for me to rest. It takes a bit of energy to talk to you like this, when we're not active, and I haven't had any exercise in over twelve years. My chakra is lethargic, and it is taking a while to get out of atrophy. When we begin training as one, I will make it back to full power. Until then... Just try to enjoy yourself, and not cause any trouble?**

Naruto smiled. _Me? Cause trouble? What makes you think I'd do that?_

**Just a hunch,** Sando said with a mental smile. **Now, I rest. See to your woman, kid. You two deserve each other.** And with that, Naruto felt his inner demon—well, one of them—fall into hibernation.

_Sleep well, friend,_ Naruto thought as he sat down at the edge of the bed to await Hinata. _I wonder... I hope..._ A smile crept across his face as the thoughts of what might happen tonight came to mind. _Well... whatever happens... it will be the greatest gift I can get from the woman I love._

_You can bet on it._

* * *

Hinata stood in the shower, water faucet off, with drops pooling and dripping from her body like a miniature shower of rain. Her eyes were closed, her head tilted back, as her sodden hair added a familiar weight to her head.

The light from the socket in the ceiling shone through the cloudy glass of the sliding shower door. The sensation of droplets of water sliding down her body was a feeling that she had missed from her time before this mission had started. Say what you want about the place—the ANBU had great showers.

For just a few minutes, Hinata enjoyed the brief time between the end of the shower, where warmth still surrounded her, and the beginning of the drop in temperature that brought the shivers.

She leaned back against the stall wall and folded her arms under her breasts. When she had asked Aoiryu about the changes in her body, she was speaking from a standpoint brought on only by casual observation from quick washes on riverbanks and in bends of creeks.

But, when she had undressed in front of the mirror in the bathroom, she was stunned—her body had developed much, much more than she had thought. She'd believed that she'd just developed in a more or less natural fashion... but her mind was blown when she saw herself in full view, both front and in profile.

She'd been physically fit when she'd left with Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi, a combination of a life full of training with her father and the torturous regime they'd been under from Maito Gai. But now... she hardly recognized herself.

Her increased muscle tone had dramatically changed the way her body looked, even in the minutia. Any baby fat she had left was gone, replaced by firm, evenly-toned arms, legs, abs, and chest muscles.

Her body had become much more lean and mature-looking in the short space of three weeks. Her breasts hadn't just grown—they'd become more well-shaped, too. While not enormous by any means, it looked as if sizable, well-shaped pears had somehow appeared on her chest without her noticing. Dark reddish nipples tipped them and swayed gently every time she shifted her weight.

Suddenly, she shivered, a cold chill sending goose-bumps up and down her body. Her nipples contracted into rosy red buds as she massaged her arms. I should move, she thought to herself. I don't want to catch a cold. That would be a really bad way to start off the evening's... festivities. She opened up the sliding door and stepped out, grabbing the surprisingly soft towel as her feet hit the floor.

Water droplets splashed around her body as she rubbed herself dry. She reflected to herself that something like this was a luxury that she had taken for granted before; something as simple as a shower was not something that she had thought could be taken away from her.

She'd lived her life in luxury, as the heiress of the entire Hyuuga clan. Although she'd lead a mostly-simple personal life, not surrounding herself with adornments as some of the other Hyuuga did, money, things, and even the simple possessions only available to the affluent were readily available to her. And yet, even with all of that around her, all the time, she'd almost never, ever been happy.

In fact... the only time she could remember being happy while she was in the Academy was when she was near Naruto. Even before she really fell in love with him, she took strength and security from him. He had something of a rough exterior, and put off an aura of negativity, but she always knew that he was a good person. He'd never gone out of his way to hurt anybody who didn't deserve it, not in his entire life. Even when he fought some of the other students in practice at school, nobody was ever really hurt. He knew that he was stronger than them—there was no need to prove it to anyone.

From a young age, she found solace in his company, as fleeting as those moments might be. She was almost never alone; either she was with her father while in town, or she was surrounded by other young children, or she was in the middle of the Hyuuga compound, encircled by a tight ring of security. She'd almost never had a chance to actually talk to Naruto... and looking back on it, she knew that some of the things she'd done might not have been the best for her, but in the end she knew that it was all for the best. If she hadn't focused on Naruto when she did, she might never have been happy. Happiness wasn't something that came easily or readily in the Hyuuga clan.

Her young love of Naruto had been a refuge of hers when she was desperately looking for a safe harbor for her heart.

She owed everything to Naruto—mind, body, and soul. She couldn't deny him anything he asked for, even if she wanted to... not that she ever would. He was her most special, most precious person in the world.

And tonight... she would prove it.

She finished drying her body with the towel, making sure to take care of her various crevices. She then took another towel and wrapped her hair in it, twisting it so that it supported itself. She closed her eyes, then used a trick Aoiryu told her about; she sent an extremely minute amount of chakra through her hair in short, constant pulses. This shook the water off of her hair and into the towel itself. With a smile, she unwrapped her hair, and but for a very small amount of moisture at the tips, her hair was dry to the touch. She silently thanked Aoiryu for the tip, dropped the towel, and wrapped the provided yukata loosely around her body. She lazily tied the knot around her waist.

She turned her head, and realized that she still had on the adopted face that she had been told to adopt at the beginning of the mission. If I'm going to do this, she thought, I'll do it as me. She closed her eyes and concentrated, calling on the same power now as she did before. More quickly than before, she felt her face and hair shift back to its original form, the one that she'd grown up with and seen in the mirror every day. With a rush, she felt a euphoria that came from a sense of self-identity. She was Hyuuga Hinata, the only one in the world. She was the only her. She was the only love of the most amazing man in the entire world. And tonight...

Tonight, she would exercise all of the privileges that came with the station.

She smiled as she flipped the light off and stepped out of the door.

* * *

There was no way in hell that Naruto should have been able to fall asleep with everything that was awaiting him that night. He knew that Hinata was up to something. He also knew that whatever it was, there was not a chance that he would hate a single thing about it. Naruto loved Hinata and everything about her. He wouldn't change a single thing about her, and would do whatever he could to make her happy. Disappointing her would be the last thing on his mind.

But, to be fair, he had just spent a good three weeks on the road with only a bedroll to look forward to spending the night on, and the temptation to just fall into the bed and lose himself was just too strong.

The bed was beyond comfortable. It wasn't just comfy... it was like a slice of heaven had burrowed itself into his soul as soon as he lay down. He didn't see the problem with getting comfortable in it when he broke his connection with Sando. Hey, he was supposed to be here to relax. What was the harm in indulging in the luxury of a real bed?

He'd already relaxed his false mask; he didn't need it behind closed doors. For once, he wanted to talk to Hinata with his own voice, with his own lips. He was tired of the "Seijuro" persona. As much as he hated to admit it, even to himself, he missed being Naruto. For once, he wanted to be who he had been, even with all of the negative stigmas that had come with his own identity.

The next thing he knew...

A shift in the bed roused him from his soft slumber. A lifetime of waking panic woke him up in a hurry, but in an instant he recognized Hinata's soft face in the semi-dark. He smiled when he realized that she'd dropped the illusion as well. "Hinata—" he said as he began to sit up to move next to her, but she surprised him by placing a palm on his chest and firmly but gently pushed him down on the mattress. "Hinata—" he said again, more softly this time. He couldn't finish his sentence, however, as she had planted her mouth on his in a deep, slow, passionate kiss.

Naruto closed his eyes and lost himself in her.

He fell in love with her, again and again that night. She gave him many things to love.

* * *

A/N: Well, there you have it. Another chapter, woot. I'll start working on another one tomorrow.

Sorry for the distinct lack of action and lemon. Oh well. Deal with it.

Read and review, please.

* * *


	11. Twist of Fate

Guess who's back?

It's good to update again, folks. Culinary school is taking a lot out of me, and I'm working a lot on top of that, but trust me-- I think about this fic almost every single day. Actually, every other hour or so I'm mentally planning something out one thing or another. Four or five complete fights are choreographed inside my head, and I can't wait to get to them.

I'm jacked up on Mountain Dew Game Fuel (the red one) and I'm ready to rumble!

I'm gonna keep this quick. Got some reviews to respond to!

**Anthurak The Chaos Lord: Sorry, still no citrus. But I'm dedicated to a full-blown lemon next chapter, which will definetly be a crowd-pleaser! Next chapter in three or four weeks. Deal?**

**ThirdParty: You're completely right, I should update more. But I wanna do it right, and I want to make it a labor of love. Thanks for the semi-critical review; that stuff keeps me in line.**

**Dragon Man 180: Man, you're always good to me! You're my most consistent reviewer. Appreciate the attention, man. But like I said, there will be a lemon next chapter. Been thinkin about it for a while, and it's about damn time.**

**TimeShifter: Don't worry, everything you're wondering about will be shown later on. Yeah, it could take a while (maybe eight or nine chapters at this point) but it'll come out eventually.**

**Aikori Shukrai: Haven't yet, but I'm gonna check out your work. Sounds interesting! Thanks for reading!**

**Silver Warrior: Right on all counts. I'll explain more later.**

**Dameus: Sorry, I've gotten some people asking for me to put the lemons in, and that's what's goin on. Hey, I'm not telling anybody to read this-- Only begging really, _really _hard.**

**djz3r0310: Thanks, man. Glad you approve, and can overlook the little stuff.**

**blackwolf0925: It's on, man. And I took your advice to heart--pay attention further on down the line.**

**Dusk Ado: The chuunin exam will be unlike anything you've ever thought of or seen on this site before. Please, please be patient with me. I've got a plan. I think.**

**Ren Mizuki: Thank bro! You're a good one!**

Ok, that's enough of that. I gots things to do. Places to be. Enjoy, read, and review!

**Chapter 11**

Sometimes, no matter how beautiful one's surroundings can be, it will not affect one's general attitude. When someone is hell-bent on anger, or has so much stress on their psyche, not even the most awe-inspiring visage can even flex their dark, grim mood.

This was certainly so with the trio of young shinobi traveling the long, dusty road that gently followed the curve of a mountain that hugged the edge of the short range that separated the group from the provincial town that their destination lay.

The nerves of the Sanseirei were already visibly frayed around the edges; Naruto and Sasuke showed obvious signs of irritation at the slightest thing, and Hinata was even more quiet and withdrawn than usual—as compared to her personality _before _she was recruited into the elite squad that she was now a part of.

_No wonder, _Kakashi thought to himself as he walked behind the children several paces back. _This is a big day for each one of them. This is their test. This is their… "make it or break it", so to speak. _A small smile slipped past his lips. _This mission will succeed, one way or another. But I have Sarutobi's orders—let them do as much as possible by themselves without interfering too much. It's important that we know what they're capable of._

_Sasuke must slip past that famous temper of his. We need him to be able to let go of his vengeance. He's calmed down…slightly…but he still cannot forget about his brother._

_Hinata is still much too meek. Whether or not she has what it takes to complete her end of the mission… has yet to be determined quite yet. She has so much skill, so much potential…It would be a real shame if she fell off here, after she had gained the trust of the mask she now wears. Her timidity could be the death of her—_and _her compatriots. We don't need her to be a rabbit. But how long can we wait for her to turn into a tiger?_

_And Naruto… _Kakashi paused as he considered the true purpose of his end of the mission. Much as it pained him to admit, he and Sarutobi hadn't been _entirely _honest with the young man. In fact—

_Naruto's been one hundred percent completely duped by now._

Kakashi scowled as he thought about the charade that he had been coerced into by his Hokage. In total truth, they had been very unfair to the boy. They had gently—but surely—manipulated Naruto down the path he and his friends had taken.

Kakashi disliked what he had been asked to do. He didn't always appreciate the Hokage's orders, but he always followed through on them. This, though, was too much, even for him.

From the start, it had never been about Sasuke, or Hinata, or the resurrection of the Sanseirei. Sarutobi could care less about the legacy of the famous shadowy trio. As always, it was all about Naruto.

Naruto, Naruto, Naruto.

Hinata had been brought in to cement his loyalty. Sarutobi knew of its history—how it contained the originator of the Byakugan. For years, top scientists had begged the Konoha hierarchy to let some experimentation be done on it, as well as the other masks. But the masks were too valuable—_much _too valuable to allow something disastrous befall them. Any single experiment could damage them somehow, or destroy them altogether. Thus, they were kept in the vault, under heavy lock and key, until they were needed.

Hinata was being used as a tool, just as any other shinobi would be used if Sarutobi saw reason and opportunity. Naruto, with the mask, but without a secure anchor, was a wild card at best. He didn't have any great love for the village, or the people. For him, patriotism was a vague concept, best described from the mind, not from the heart.

It was with the heart that he had to be bound. Habitually, Naruto's emotions dictated his actions. Yes, he was often cool and logical, with enough common sense to get him through, but he was known far and wide in the village as hot-headed. Thus, Sarutobi and Kakashi manipulated the team rosters to pair the two young shinobi, Naruto and Hinata, together. Iruka and, to a lesser extent, Mizuki, and noted some of Hinata's strange actions when she was around Naruto while in the academy. That she was habitually nervous, withdrawn, and depressed was no great secret. But whenever Naruto was around at all, her performance, as a whole, rose.

They needed Sasuke for a different reason altogether. The youth had been extremely closely monitored from the moment his family had been slaughtered. Semiannually he had had psychological examinations performed by trained psychologists—including the famed interrogator Yamanaka Inoichi. Each review proved time and again one thing: the boy was getting increasingly unstable, and unless he was emotionally directed somewhere, _anywhere, _he would waste his life away trying to kill his brother.

The village was full of avengers as it was. Murder and payback was the shinobi way of life. But the Sharingan was a tool, a weapon, that the leaders of the village was not willing or ready to let go of. If he went rogue one day, or disappeared, or was captured, one of their greatest aces in the hole would be gone forever. Konoha had a reputation to maintain—as the permanent home of two of the three greatest doujitsu in the world. This fact gave them enormous political and militaristic clout among the shinobi nations that they could not have otherwise.

The loss of the Uchiha was a blow to the pride of the village, and their military ability was cut by a significant percentage. Other villages became more bold in missions where their shinobi had to go against Konoha—without the threat of the Sharingan, they just didn't seem as _imposing _anymore.

Putting Sasuke and Naruto on the same team served a dual purpose: it somewhat grounded the young Uchiha while giving him a sense of direction with the Sanseirei, and it gave him some competition with Naruto. History proved that two shinobi of similar strength levels paired together were more likely to compete for strength. If that was the case with them, Naruto and Sasuke would constantly be working to outdo each other.

Sasuke would finally, after four long years of solitude and pain… have a brother, once again.

_At least, _Kakashi though with a grimace, _that's the plan. _

The Jounin sighed as he kept pace with the children. _Rule 52: A shinobi is a tool. A tool never questions what its use is for. A tool never says no to a task. A tool only completes the task at hand and is always ready for the next._

_I hate that rule, _he thought to himself as he eyed something small on the horizon. _I like the unspoken rule better— "Sometimes, break some rules." _A small smile crossed his lips at the whim. _That one really is my favorite._

* * *

His mood suddenly grew serious as he sped up slightly to catch up with the three shinobi under his command. Although he was only a few feet behind them, he seemed to catch Naruto by surprise.

"Wha—oh, Nagano-sensei!" Naruto said, seemingly breaking his funk.

Kakashi smiled at his pupil. "Calm down, Seijuro-kun," he said. "It's nothing big." He then stopped dead in the middle of the road. His hand inched slightly closer to the hilt of his sword, and the Sanseirei's hackles were raised. The three stepped closer to their master; something was up.

"What's wrong?" Hinata asked Kakashi.

The man knelt on one knee, the better to talk quietly to his students. "'Tanaka'," he said softly, "take a look at the grass about three hundred yards ahead of us, and tell me what you see. Don't let it be obvious that you're scouting out ahead; just a quick glance should do."

Sasuke nodded. With the keenest eyes out of the three without an activated doujutsu, he was the obvious lookout. He glanced over at where Kakashi had indicated, and immediately saw what his master saw. Instead of quickly reporting, though, he took a long look at the mountain itself that they were traveling around, as if searching for something on its craggy face.

"I saw it," he said quietly and quickly. "The grass and ferns—they're disturbed. Looks as if a small group of men, maybe five or six, are somewhere over there. An ambush, maybe? Who could it be?"

Kakashi's eyes furrowed in thought. "I…don't know. There are plenty of people who'd want to kill any one of us—"

"Thanks for the thought," mumbled Naruto.

"—But nobody knows where we are," Kakashi finished, with a slight scowl aimed at the blonde. "Any decent ninja would be adept at covering their tracks, and wouldn't leave such obvious signs of a trap. So…"

"Could it be bandits?" Hinata asked. "Just random criminals hiding on the road, waiting for easy pickings?"

Kakashi thought for a moment. "It's a strong possibility," he said. "Very strong, matter of fact." Hinata beamed at the implied praise.

"However," he said, "it could be another kind of trap—one that would lull us into a false sense of security. If it was bandits, we wouldn't need to try too hard to beat them down. But if they're enemy shinobi, they could be hiding somewhere we cannot see."

"So what do we do?" asked Naruto.

Kakashi's eyes were set. "We'll keep going," he said. "Whatever the game is, we won't know until we play it. Be cautious, but don't make it obvious that you're looking for or expecting trouble. If we can get by without trouble, all the better for us."

"But what about the next people who pass?" Naruto asked. "This is a trade route! Someone could get hurt by them!"

Kakashi's expression was cold as ice. "That is none of our concern," he said. "We have a job to do. We can't afford to get side-tracked by idle fantasies of playing hero."

Naruto bit his tongue; it wouldn't do to get into a verbal spat with someone like Kakashi, especially when they were as exposed as they were. "Fine," he said. "It doesn't matter."

"Good," Kakashi said. "Now that I have your _consent, _let's get going." He stood up and made his way down the path around the mountain, toward the next village, his students in tow.

Silence followed the next few minutes as they traveled together, without saying a word. Despite Kakashi's instructions to remain calm, Naruto's sword arm felt twitchy. It felt as if his unnamed sword was _begging _to be drawn from its scabbard. He was itching for a fight, yearning for the rush of combat and adrenalin.

He wanted blood.

The realization shocked him. Hadn't the Kyuubi been locked away from any influence of him? Shouldn't the bloodlust have been waned?

_It's my own lust, _he grasped suddenly. _I, myself, want to fight. _This thought disturbed him slightly—but also, amazingly, excited him. New aspects of his personality were making themselves known constantly, and it could still be a while before he knew everything about himself—if ever.

* * *

The more complicated a plan is, the more things can go wrong with it. Simple is always best. But sometimes, one little thing can go wrong and disturb the best-planned strategies. A whisper, a clue, a tiniest hint can destroy the foundations of a mission. Assassinations are inherently complex at the best of times, nearly impossible at the worst. Assassination/infiltration/espionage missions are horribly convoluted.

Especially when you meet the target on an early afternoon's walk.

About fifty from the curve of the road where the path turned around the mountain, where the grasses were disturbed, Naruto and company got the most unpleasant shock of their lives: seemingly from out of nowhere, a small band of men appeared from around the bend, walking the opposite way of them, coming directly toward the quartet.

In the lead was a face that they had all become familiar with: Nagasaki Bunpei, the lord of Kawachi province of Fire country. Behind him were four men, two of whom were in kimonos and sandals, one in a suit, and one in a torn tan vest with denim shorts. The first two carried swords at their waists, the third at his back over his right shoulder, but the fourth had no obvious weapons on his person. He walked with his hands in his pockets, and whistled a directionless tune through dirty blond bangs.

For a split second, Hinata froze a step. A streak of terror flashed across her face as she beheld the man she had been sent to kill.

Sasuke and Naruto immediately recognized that she was in trouble, and maneuvered to cover up the situation. Sasuke stepped in front of her to block the incoming group from seeing her expression, and Naruto went to her side. He placed a hand at the small of her back and whispered into her ear, "Be calm, ok? Something's not right, but we have to see this through. Kakashi will figure it out… I hope."

Hinata looked at him with less fear in her eyes, and nodded shortly. She set her resolve, so quickly that Naruto was quite taken aback. She was showing much more spit and fire lately than ever before; was she even the same person he had fallen in love with anymore?

Really?

Hinata, collected, stepped from behind Sasuke as the two groups encountered each other, roughly twenty-five feet from the place where the supposed bandits were hiding.

_Strange, _Kakashi thought just as they closed in on each other. _Maybe they aren't there at all? I can't risk activating the Sharingan… Maybe I was wrong?_

Kakashi indicated with a hand gesture to his three students to move to the side of the road to allow the party to pass by without incident. They obeyed, though Naruto's eyes never left the other group as a whole.

The group in question, however, seemed to have other plans. The men with swords moved to block the path, while the unarmed man stood close by Nagasaki. The man in question had a frown on his face as he watched his men move into formation to intercept the newcomers.

"Good morning," Kakashi said to Nagasaki, showing proper respect to the man. Even though he supposedly didn't know the man, he held an air of importance, and carried himself like someone of nobility. Obviously, with men like that, he had to be someone of consequence. "May we pass? I do not know who you are, but we wish you no ill will. We merely want to be on our way, and if we are to make it to our destination by sundown we cannot afford to slow down."

The man scowled. "I am Nagasaki Bunpei," he said dryly, "and I am the lord of the land that you now stand on. State your names and business in my realm. Only employees of the state are permitted to carry weapons on my domain."

Kakashi scowled back at the man. "My name is Nagano Yahiko. This is my son, Tanaka, and my pupils, Tsukioka Seijuro and Shinomori Misao. I'm a samurai-turned-ronin from the Land of Rice. I do odd jobs, and I take bodyguard work when I can. I am just trying to provide for my kids here… I was run out of my home last year, and it's been tough lately. Please, let me pass, and I'll be off of your land as soon as possible."

The weaponless man asked, "You were a samurai? From which school of combat?"

Kakashi shifted his weight slightly. "I am the last student of the Denkou Tosshin no Kami," he said after a moment's pause. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh…Just curious." One of the samurai in kimono caught his eye with a slight smile on his face. The man who seemed to be the main bodyguard nodded at him—

In the blink of an eye, the duel was over and done with. The samurai stepped quickly toward Kakashi, drew his sword when he was no more than a few feet away in expert battōjutsu and drew in for the kill.

Kakashi was faster. He drew his own blade, but set it in a defensive position and placed the flat of his hand just one inch from the tip, fingers rigidly extended. The up-to-down position looked awkward, especially with the waist bend Kakashi had to do to make the block—

But when the swords struck each other, something practically insane occurred: the samurai's sword _shattered _into dozens, if not _hundreds, _of pieces and flew with angry shrieks into the forest grove by the path.

Naruto was stunned—there was no way in hell that either of them had held back. Somehow, though, the samurai had managed to dodge the shrapnel that had been his weapon.

"What the hell?!" he shouted as he stared at his broken stump of a blade. "How the hell did you do that?"

Kakashi calmly sheathed his sword. He looked at the samurai and smiled. "I told you," he said. "Denkou Tosshin no Kami. It's one of the strongest defensive schools in the known world, and I am its last inheritor. The point is to hold ground and turn energy back to my enemies. What I did is very simple if you just know how to…stand still.

"Now, why did you attack me?" he asked the weaponless shinobi. "Acts of aggression on weary travelers aren't very kind."

The bodyguard in the vest laughed, loudly and energetically. "Why not?" he said. "You just said you were the inheritor of the Denkou Tosshin, a style I have never even heard of. I wanted to see what it was all about."

Kakashi eyed the man levelly. "You…had your man attack me, risk both of our lives… because you were curious?"

He laughed. "Yep, that pretty much covers it."

Kakashi sighed. "I don't believe this," he said. "Come one, kids," he directed his charges. "Misao-chan, hand me the map we got in the last town. I'll figure out the fastest way out of this insane place." He looked at the lord, who was himself smirking. "We—and our swords—will be out of here soon, don't worry about that."

Nagasaki held up a hand to halt the Jounin. "Wait, wait please," he said, in a voice meant to pacify. "My bodyguards just got a little bit overexcited. There's not much opportunity to test their skills these days, and they get restless. Please accept my apologies, on behalf of them."

Kakashi's posture became more relaxed. "I can understand their situation," he said, "having been there myself once or twice. But that's still no excuse for their actions. What if they had killed me? Would you excuse the murder?"

For the first time, the samurai in the suit spoke up. "You know the way of the sword," he said in a calm, dispassionate tone. "A duel can happen anytime, anywhere, with anyone. You wear your blade proudly—why are you ashamed of displaying your skill?"

"I am ashamed of nothing," Kakashi said. "But I have these children to think of. Without me, they'd have nothing to direct them, and I swore I'd protect them until they could take care of themselves. Now, please, get out of my way so I can get out of here."

The man in the vest began to say something, but Nagasaki cut him off with a curt wave of his hand, much to his apparent annoyance. "That's enough, Ishin," he barked at his bodyguard. "We've unconvinced—Nagano, wasn't it? Yes, Nagano Yahiko enough as it is."

He drew to the side of the path, and his guard—if somewhat reluctantly—followed suit. The three young shinobi gathered close by him as they passed by the group, each one eying closely the other. Hushed conversation followed them as they got out of normal speaking range of each other; the guards were examining the stump of a sword in the samurai's hand, while the shinobi moved in strict silence.

Naruto pulled up even with Kakashi. "What the hell?" he said in a whisper. "What the fuck just happened?"

"Quiet," Kakashi replied. "This isn't over. Not by a long shot."

"What do you mean?" Naruto said.

"My Sharingan says there are seven men in the grass over there," Kakashi replied with forced calmness. "In ten seconds they're going to jump us. Do me a favor, please."

Naruto's pulse quickened as adrenalin kicked in. "What would that be?" he asked his sensei.

Kakashi smiled slightly. "Just don't die, ok?"

Naruto didn't have time to respond; his first real battle as a shinobi for the Leaf had just begun.

As one, the bandits leapt out of the coverage of grasses and other greenery. Four carried swords, one a trident, and the other two large clubs, one spiked with nails.

They attacked with surprising speed and skill. The trident-wielding outlaw, the man with the spiked club, and two of the sword-wielding men converged directly on Kakashi. The other three attacked the young shinobi individually.

The trident targeted directly at Kakashi's chest. Almost casually, he jumped into the air in a tight somersault and landed with his hands on the shaft of the weapon. Using the man's own considerable mass against him, he used the weapon as an anchor to twist his body in a sharp and violent kick at the side of the man's head. He grunted, and fell to the ground in a limp heap.

The two men with swords took the opportunity to strike straight on at Kakashi in midair before he had a chance to hit the ground and gain leverage to defend himself. To their dismay, however, Kakashi was faster in any situation than either of them. With a roll in midair, he drew his sword almost quicker than the human eye could see and decapitated the swordsman on the left. The sword carried momentum through the spray of blood as the man's head flew off to the side, and made its way toward the second bandit.

He managed to pull his head back in time to avoid complete decapitation, but his throat was almost fully and cleanly sliced from chin to chin. By the time Kakashi had touched the ground to focus on the last man, the headless body had fallen to a muddy, bloody pile on the path and the second man was clutching his throat in deadly desperation to survive.

One dead, one dying, one unconscious. Three down, one to go.

The man with the spiked club had managed to stay out of the initial confrontation. While Kakashi's back was turned, he swung down at his head with incredible force and speed.

Kakashi side-stepped easily as the club slammed into the dirt and gravel, sending soil and blood scattering in a fine spray into the air all around. A cloud of dust rose up, momentarily obscuring the ground around him.

"Wha—Where'd he go?" he said stupidly as he yanked the spiked weapon out of the dirt. He looked over his left shoulder, then the right one.

"Right here," Kakashi said. He had been hiding in the man's largest blind spot—right behind him. He was abnormally large and tall; it was child's play to stay back-to-back with him without his noticing.

Before he could react, Kakashi twisted his blade into a reverse grip in his fist. Blood splattered in the air as he dispassionately plunged the sword into his back, through his lung, and out of his chest. He held himself there for a second… then fell face-first into the ground in a pool of his own blood. A gurgle exited his lips as he died, and with a final wheeze, he, whoever he was, was no more.

Kakashi looked toward his pupils, and was satisfied with what he saw.

The Sanseirei had reacted almost as quickly as Kakashi in their own individual fights. As soon as the apparent trap was sprung, they had divided to give each other room to maneuver.

Two of the swordsmen attacked Hinata and Naruto, while the man with the unspiked club went for Sasuke.

An instant before Naruto and Hinata drew their swords, they locked eyes with each other. Hinata mouthed a single word—"press"—and Naruto quickly nodded his head. In their time together while training with Gekko, they had practiced a few maneuvers that could work in fights with the two of them against multiple opponents. They'd been given single-word code names for on-the-fly reactions in intense situations.

"Press" was one of the tactics they had put together with Gekko. It was simple, yet deadly.

Just the way Naruto liked it.

Naruto's attacker already had his sword in hand when he was upon him. He jumped into the air to deliver a downward slash at Naruto's head. Naruto dodged to the side to press up close to Hinata.

Hinata's bandit preferred to remain low and fast, and aimed the tip of his sword at Hinata's heart. She, likewise, moved toward Naruto. They linked their left hands, and hooked their left feet together to act as a fulcrum. They kicked off with their right legs and spun in an extremely low, extremely fast spin of angry child and deadly metal.

The bandits never knew what hit them. Hinata and Naruto slashed at their ankles, their calves, and their knees. As they fell to the ground in screams of pain and splashes of blood, the continued momentum allowed them to continue the cyclone.

Sasuke's fight was over nearly as soon as it began. His outlaw swung his club horizontally at his head, while Sasuke simply ducked a few inches and let his momentum work for his advantage. The bandit obviously wasn't trained; he relied on brute force.

Sasuke, however, had skill enough for a dozen of him. In a simple technique that he had practiced hundreds of times, he drew his sword while taking a quick step forward. With his textbook battōjutsu, the man was dead from a huge slash across his chest that must have gone through at least two ribs to reach his heart. With a spray of blood, some of which stained Sasuke's clothing, the man fell to the floor, dead.

All four fights ended at nearly the same instant, and took roughly four seconds from start to finish. But as quickly as they had begun and concluded, the aftereffects came even more quickly.

Suddenly, Naruto couldn't breathe. His breath seemed to catch in his throat. The sudden combination of excitement and endorphins and adrenalin crashed at him like a shock to his body. Although the fight had lasted only a few scant seconds, and his victory had been clear and decisive, he was still worn out, mind, body, and soul.

The tip of his upright blade wavered inches around, left to right, up to down. He just couldn't hold his sword still, not for anything.

Hinata, Naruto knew, would be much, much worse than he. With one quick look over her shoulder, his worse fears were instantly confirmed.

Hinata had gotten the worse of the blood spatter from their fight. Due to the multiple lightning-quick slashes they had bestowed on the men they had killed, several thin, tight lines of crimson streaked her clothing at odd angles.

Her sword had dropped to the ground at he feet, and was covered in blood. It had landed right next to the corpse of the man who had initially faced off with Naruto, and the hilt itself was lying just beside an oozing wound on his stomach.

Naruto saw her in profile; her hair hung over her face in a ragged pile across her face in limp strands, and her arms swayed gently at her side, seemingly without her moving them.

Naruto flung aside his sword and just barely managed to catch her as she fell limply to the ground. "Hinata!" he whispered fiercely to her as she hung like dead weight in his arms. He was forced to kneel on the ground to hold her without contorting her torso. "Hinata, come on! Snap out of it!"

"Seijuro?" Sasuke said as he quickly found his way to Naruto's side. "What's wrong with Misao-chan?"

Worry filled Naruto's eyes as the worst possible scenerio he could think of came to mind. "I-I don't know!" he said. "It was only four or five seconds-- The fight-- I don't know what happened!"

Kakashi was suddenly by their side, kneeling on the ground with Naruto and Hinata. "She's gone into shock," he said solemly. "She's never killed before, or seen so much blood. Seijuro, quick! Get out your blanket, now! Wrap her tight, and keep her warm. Do you see her face? She's flushing and sweating. Those are common symptoms of shock. I've never seen a case this extreme, this quickly. We need to get her someplace safe, and now."

Naruto complied with Kakashi's directives at once; within seconds, Hinata was cocooned tightly with the thick woolen blanket from his pack. Kakashi held her as he attended her, but Naruto physically insisted on holding her as she began shivering, only slightly, but steadily.

Just one second later, it seemed, the entorage of Nagasaki's was at the side of Naruto's group. The lord was out of breath; apparently, he had sprinted toward the site of the battle as soon as it had concluded. His guard, none the worse for the run, were beside and behind him. Just moments before, he had seemed cold, distantf. But obvious concern was plastered on his face as he recovered his breathing. "Ha... ha..." he huffed as he visually examined Hinata. "Is... is she ok?" he asked as he straightened up.

Kakahi scowled at Nagasaki. "No, she's _not _ok," he said with venom in his voice. "I've been training these three for two years now, but this was the first serious fight she's ever been in. She's never killed before, and she's slipped into shock. I have no idea where the nearest clinic is, or even a doctor. Please, leave us. We need to get her to someone. _Anyone! _It doesn't matter who!"

Nagasaki looked to one of his samurai--the man in the suit. "Shinji-san," he said with surprising respect, "as far as you know, is there anyone close to here who can help this girl?"

The samurai--Shinji--closed his eyes in quick thought. "No," he said after a minute. "Not at all. We're ten miles from your manor, eleven from the rest of the town. From the way they came from, we're over twenty miles gone. The fastest way to get her medical attention is for Yamamoto-san to carry her to your personal physician to stabilize her condition. She won't die without treatment… but if someone doesn't help her _now, _it could take days, or weeks, for her to recover."

"Yamamoto?" Kakashi said as he looked up at the speaker. "Which one's that?"

Shinji pointed one long finger toward the weaponless bodyguard. "Him," he said listlessly. "He's the fastest of us all. Used to be a ninja. Could be there in twenty minutes if he wanted, maybe."

"Hm?" Yamamoto said. "Me, carry her? Man, that's a lot of work for someone I just met."

Kakashi had to hold up an arm to stop Naruto from flying at the man. "Don't worry about carrying her!" Kakashi said as she scooped Hinata into his arms. "I'm no ninja, but I'm plenty good to keep up with anyone. Just lead the way, ok? Think you can do that?"

Yamamoto began slowly stretching his arms. "Think you can keep up?" he said, slightly mockingly.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. "Try me," he said flatly.

Yamamoto glanced over at his employer. "Is this ok with you, Nagasaki-sama?" he asked.

Nagasaki was beginning to look a little queasy; apparently, he was not at all used to the sight of so much blood and gore. After all, seven bodies were not a sight for the weak. "Yes, yes, that's fine," he said faintly. "Hurry, please, the rest of us will come after you. Expect us in a few hours…"

Naruto gathered up his and Hinata's swords and quickly wiped the blood off of them with a cloth from his pocket for that exact purpose. "I'm coming too," he said to nobody in particular. "Don't try to stop me."

A strained smile crossed Nagasaki's lips. "I wouldn't dream of it," he said. "I saw you two move together; you're obviously very close."

"I'll stay with these guys," Sasuke said. "You hurry along. I just don't feel like running all that way."

Naruto nodded. He knew that Sasuke probably just wanted to get a better read on Nagasaki Bunpei. "Whatever," he said dismissively.

Kakashi looked at Yamamoto. "Let's go," he said with authority in his voice.

Yamamoto shrugged and pulled his hands out of his pockets for the first time. "You're the boss," he said evenly. He turned down the road in the general direction of the manor, and the doctor. "Like I said," he said over his shoulder, "can you keep up?" He started running down the path without waiting for an answer at what appeared to be top speed. A dust cloud appeared a split second later where he had just stood.

Naruto looked at Kakashi in shock. "He's fast," the young man said.

Kakashi looked back at his student. "He is," Kakashi replied. "Let's be faster." Without waiting for a reply, Kakashi sped after the former shinobi, taking extreme care to not hurt Hinata in the process. Naruto fell into pace just behind him, running as quick as possible to keep up with his sensei and his precious cargo. Within moments, the running crew was out of sight of the lord and his guard, plus Sasuke.

"…Well," said Shinji after an awkward moment of silence. "This day has just gotten a bit more interesting… Those kids your friends?"

Sasuke started walking after the crew. "No," he said over his shoulder. "They're the last of my family." And with that, he focused on learning as much about the samurai and Nagasaki Bunpei as possible in the few short hours he had.

* * *

Naruto's lungs were burning by the sixth mile. Even though he'd easily be able to travel several times the distance by hopping across tree-tops, the road wasn't the tree-tops. He had to pump his legs a thousand times a second, it seemed, just to keep up with the two grown warriors ahead of him.

It wasn't as if Naruto was out of shape—even for a shinobi, he was exceptionally fit. But he was chasing two mature men who had a long history of controlling their chakra sufficiently to move at blinding speeds. Despite his couldn't-care-less attitude, Yamamoto wasn't cutting Kakashi any slack. He was fast; he hadn't just been boasting when he asked Kakashi if he could keep up.

Although they were moving at top speed, they didn't seem to be over-exerting themselves in the least. Naruto, on the other hand, was struggling to keep up. If only they were moving just a little bit slower, he could keep up—

_NO! _his subconscious screamed at him. _The faster you move, the more quickly Hinata can be treated! There is no room for error, not a minute of it!_

The thought of Hinata's condition worsening spurred Naruto's spirit. With a burst, he closed the distance between himself and Kakashi in one or two seconds and managed to stay alongside him for the remainder of the run.

At the pace they set for themselves, in almost no time at all they had exited the mountain range, had passed the scattered farms alongside the roads, and reached the main gates of the household that was the home of Nagasaki.

Naruto didn't have time to admire the beauty of the estate—for it truly was beautiful—as Yamamoto, quickly followed by Kakashi and Naruto, leapt over the iron gate at the entrance and into the main courtyard. Yamamoto ran around to the right side of the quarters and across a small pond in the middle of the yard to a small building set apart from the main house. As Kakashi and Naruto caught up, he had already knocked on the door.

As soon as he stopped moving, Naruto seemed to have lost all energy. He fell to one knee, inhaling and exhaling enormous breaths as he struggled to regain himself. Blood rushed to his face as oxygen began flowing more normally through his body. His heart rate was slowing, slowly but surely. Sweat beaded on his forehead as his internal temperature rose from his sudden exertion.

The door opened in the smaller but still sizable building. A man appeared in the threshold in surgical scrubs and a lab coat. In his hand he held a clipboard with a thick stack of papers attached. He was tall and thin, almost appearing emaciated. He was of middle age with iron-gray hair and similarly-colored eyes.

"Yamamoto-san," he barked at the samurai as his eyes roved over Hinata bundled in Kakashi's arms. "What's the situation at hand?"

Yamamoto stepped to the side and quickly and concisely explained what had happened just shortly before. The physician nodded curtly. "Follow me," he said. Kakashi rushed after him into the building, closely followed by Naruto. Yamamoto took up the rear, closing the door behind them with a soft _click. _

The clinic was brightly lit, extremely white, and sterile-looking. There were a few chairs and a table in the first room, but they didn't stop there. The doctor opened the second door on the left with a heavily-veined hand and guided the small party through.

"Set her down, there," he said. "Gently now! You, what is your name?" he said, pointing at Naruto.

"Uh—Seijuro," Naruto said. "Tsukioka Seijuro."

"Hold her up, keep her upright," the doctor said. "I need her ready to respond to me, if she can." Under his breath, he muttered, "Damn idiots. All these swords and killers and such, no wonder if some of them get messed up." Naruto didn't know if he was talking about Hinata in particular, or all swordsmen in general, but he instantly felt some apprehension towards the man.

The doctor got down on one knee and peered into Hinata's eyes. He shined a penlight in one, then another. He hummed to himself, then put his finger on her neck to check for a pulse. "How long has she been like this?" he asked nobody in particular.

"About twenty-five minutes," answered Kakashi.

"Hmm…" the doctor said. He snapped a finger in front of Hinata's face; no reaction. "Does she have any history of disease that you know of?" he asked Kakashi.

"No."

"Abuse?"

"Somewhat"

"Emotional stress?"

"…She came from an abusive family. When I left my home, I took her along with my son and his friend. There wasn't much there for either of them. Today was her first time in actual combat, though." Kakashi was privately amazed that he hadn't told a lie yet.

"Hmm…" He patted her on the cheek, then pinched it. "People with histories of emotional abuse--especially young people--are susceptible to shock like this." He looked at the Jounin. "I might have to do something you'll disagree with," he said to Kakashi.

Kakashi paused for a moment. "Ok," he said finally. "Do it."

Without preamble he did something that scared the hell out of Naruto—he cocked his arm back and slapped Hinata across the face with a resounding _smack! _

"HEY!" Naruto said as the echoes died in the small room.

Naruto didn't have time to get too angry at the doctor; Hinata leapt out of his arms and launched herself at him. "YOU ASSHOLE!" she screamed as she flew at him.

Naruto wrapped his arms around her mid-section and pulled her back amidst a flurry of flailing arms and legs. "Let me go, Seijuro!" she shrieked. "Let me get him!"

The doctor had moved away from the girl with surprising agility. A crooked smile was plastered across his face as he crossed his arms across his chest. "My methods may be drastic, sometimes," he said evenly, "but they usually do work."

"Calm down, Misao!" Naruto said as he struggled to keep a grip on her. She was much stronger than she looked, for sure. "He's a doctor! He helped you out of shock!"

Hinata elbowed him in the ribs. With a whoosh of expelled air, he let go of her. "I don't care!" she screamed. "I want his ass!"

In a blur Kakashi stepped in her path. "That's enough," he said calmly. "Misao…Sit down. Now."

Hinata blanched and did as she was told. She sat next to Naruto with an apologetic look on her face. Naruto grinned at her and held her hand. "It's ok," he whispered to her. "There's nothing to worry about. You're fine, and that's all that matters to me." Hinata squeezed his hand reassuringly, and leaned a little bit of her weight on him.

"We haven't been properly introduced," Kakashi said. "I am Nagano Yahiko, ronin. These two are my students, Tsukioka Seijuro and Shinomori Misao. My son opted to stay with your employer and the rest of his guard."

The doctor nodded. "Museshi Yuri, at your service," he said. "Private physician for that over-worried Nagasaki. I swear, he's so paranoid about getting sick he had me design the most advanced private clinic in the country." He shook his head in exasperation as he washed his hands. "Sorry for the slap, my dear," he said to Hinata. "I needed you to come to your senses, and sometimes the direct way is the best."

"She appreciates your efforts, I'm sure," Kakashi said dryly. "But could you have done it without making her want to kill you?"

Museshi dried his hands and casually tossed the paper towel into the trash over his shoulder. "Maybe I could have," he said, "If you were willing to wait a few days, or weeks, perhaps. It may seem barbaric, but the old ways can be the most effective. I gave her two focuses to bring her out of shock—the physical pain of the slap, and anger at me. I didn't think she'd quite so drastically—but, there you go." He smiled more warmly, and Naruto found himself liking the man. "Again, my apologies, my dear."

"It's ok," Hinata said with a blush. "I didn't mean to jump at you l-like that…"

Naruto smirked. "Tell that to my rib cage," he said, making Hinata blush even more.

"Enough," said Kakashi wearily. "Yamamoto, if it's all the same to you, we will wait here until my son arrives with your master. We'll show our gratitude for allowing you to treat Misao, then we'll take our leave."

With a start, Naruto realized that the swordless samurai was still with them. "Hey, it's your call," he said with a careless shrug. "But I'd stick around if I were you."

Kakashi cocked an eye. "Why's that?" he asked.

"Nagasaki's always looking for top-class help," Yamamoto said, "and you seem like you fit the bill. You're no ordinary samurai, are you?"

"...Not really," Kakashi said. "My master was a samurai from the Land of Iron. He passed on his teachings to me. I share some skills with shinobi, but am not. You are an odd one yourself..."

Yamamoto smiled. "I suppose," he said lightly. "I used to be a ninja, a long time ago. One of the Mist Seven Swordsmen, matter of fact."

Kakashi paused for a moment. "I seem to recall hearing something about them," he said cautiously. "Not much, but enough to know not to cross swords with them if I could help it."

The samurai laughed. "You've been given good advice," he said. "The Mist aren't easy shinobi to beat, especially that squad."

"And you just... Left?" Kakashi asked. "Why?"

Yamamoto shrugged as he pulled open the door and exited. "A conflict of interests," he said as he walked away and out the door. "I didn't like my boss."

Kakashi sighed as he picked up his satchel. "He's not very friendly, is he?" he asked the doctor.

Museshi shook his head. "Not really, no," he said. "He's had a hard life, and I've seen his scars. Some of the stories he's told me still keep me up at night on occasion. I'm nervous just being around him. Friendly? I'd be petrified if he was a nice guy."

"Eh...Yeah," Naruto said. "I get it, he's scary. But he's a samurai, right? Where's his sword?"

The doctor's eyes grew flinty. "I don't know," he said. "I've never seen it. Nobody here has. As far as I know, nobody alive ever has."

Naruto looked at Hinata. "Weird," he said.

Museshi snorted. "You have no idea."

"Is there anyplace we can rest for the time being?" Kakashi asked, interrupting the conversation. "It's already been a long day, and we'd like to be rested when Nagasaki arrives, if it's all the same to you."

The doctor nodded. "Of course," he said. He walked out of the exam room, but headed further into the building. "This way, please," he said. "There are a couple rooms back here for recovering patients, but they can easily be used for simple bed rest."

Museshi opened the door to a room just down the hall, and when Naruto looked inside, he gasped. There were two twin-sized beds on opposite sides of the room, each with a thick red comforter, a patterned quilt at its foot, and two plump pillows. Never had he seen anything so comfortable looking. "This is you _recovery _room?" he asked the doctor. "I'd get used to this if it meant getting sick every day!"

The older man smiled. "Like I said, no expense was spared in this place. Comfort and practicality, that's my motto."

"We appreciate the effort," said Kakashi. "These two can take this room; Seijuro snores, and I want some decent sleep for once."

Museshi laughed. "I understand completely," he said with a grin. "My own wife snores loud enough to wake the dead. I'd swear I was going deaf in my left ear, with all the years we've slept together."

Kakashi nodded. "Thank you," he said, "for everything. I don't think we'll be staying around here much longer, but we really do appreciate your help."

"Not a problem," Museshi said with a smile. "Just doing my job." He then left the room with a wave of his hand at Kakashi. "Your room is right across the hall, Nagano-san. I'll have someone sent for you when Nagasaki arrives. Until then, rest, please." With that, he left the room and delved even deeper into the building.

"Get some sleep, you two," Kakashi said as he walked into his room. "Especially you, Misao. We have a long day ahead of us, and we can all use what rest we can get."

"Yes, Sensei," the chorused. Kakashi closed his door, leaving Naruto and Hinata together, alone.

Naruto guided Hinata into the room and closed the door behind him. "Well... Listen, we need to get some rest, so--"

Hinata interrupted him. "No," she said. "Naruto, I'm not tired. We need to talk, ok?"

"Shh!" Naruto said, spasmatically looking over his shoulder. "Not so loud!"

Hinata smiled. "It's ok, Naruto," she said. "I've been practicing, and I can see with my Byakugan without activating it fully. There aren't any listening devices or anything like that in here, and besides Kakashi-sensei, there aren't any other people around here who can hear us. We're as safe as if we were back home."

Naruto arched a brow. "Is that supposed to reassure me?" he asked the girl.

Hinata sighed. "I guess you're right," she said. "No place is safe, really. But we do need to talk."

"About... what happened earlier?"

She nodded. "Yes, of course. Naruto--" Up untill now, she had held her composure, but she just suddenly broke down. "N-Naruto," she said as tears began to stream down her face, "I-I can't do this anymore! I c-can't kill like that! T-those outlaws, they didn't have a c-chance against us, they couldn't have fought back!"

She collapsed on the bed, looking like nothing so much as a pathetic huddle of sorrow. "I just don't k-know what the Hokage was t-thinking, putting me here with you t-two," she sobbed. She put her hands on her face and just let the flood-gates open; a wave of tears escaped her eyes and her body convulsed in spasms.

Naruto sat down next to her and wrapped his arms around her; he had such great empathy with her, he could almost feel her sorrow in his own heart. "Shh, shh, Hinata, calm down," he said. "It's going to be all right. Please trust me, it'll be all right. I love you, please, please calm down."

"It's not going to be all right!" she exclaimed through her tears. "I b-broke after my first fight! Do you think Kakashi's not going to tell Sarutobi? He has to! He'll take the mask away from me, Aoiryu from me, and I'll go b-back to my f-father..." The thought of this just seemed to break her even more. Naruto had to hold onto her to keep her from slipping to the floor in a heap. "I don't want to go back," she whimpered. "I can't g-go back. P-please, don't let me go b-back..."

Naruto leaned her back so that he was supporting her across his lap. He held her there, holding on tightly, murmering softly to her. "That'll never happen," he said quietly in her ear. "They'll never take you away from me, not now, not ever. I love you too much to ever, ever let go. They'll never take Aoiryu from you, either; by now, she's as much a part of you as your very own soul. You're her spiritual descendent, and you'll have her near forever, I promise."

He held her closer than ever. "And... I swear to whatever god is out there, on my life, that you'll never go back to your father. You're stronger than him, you know it in your mind--" He broke off and placed his hand on her chest. "But you need to learn it in your heart."

Hinata put her hand on top of his. "Do you p-promise?" she whispered to Naruto. "Will you really always be there for me?"

Naruto leaned down and kissed her softly, compassionately. He tasted tears on her lips. "I swear it," he said.

With those simple words, all of the tension and stress and fear seemed to leave her body. She became soft in his arms and relaxed as the taste of his lips lingered on hers. She laughed, softly. "I'm sorry for being so insecure," she said as she buried her face in his warm, yielding chest. "I'm just so worried, so worried about everything."

Naruto kissed her forehead. "It's ok to be insecure every now and then." He smiled warmly at her. "I'm insecure almost every minute of the day, so you really don't have much to worry about."

"Hmm? What do you have to be insecure about?" she asked him.

Naruto sighed. "How many people do you know who have demons living inside of them?"

Hinata chuckled. "Just you and Sasuke," she said with a smile. "I, however, have an angel. Beat that, if you can."

Naruto smiled again. "You win!" he said as he squeezed her in a hug. "You always do, anyway."

She yawned. "Naruto... I think I really am tired after all. Really, really t..." She fell asleep in his arms, and within moments was snoring lightly.

"I guess you were, my love," he said to her sleeping form. He lifted her softly and set her down gently on the bed more comfortably. He lay down next to her and put the quilt at the foot of the bed over them. He wanted her to stay warm, and her well-being was the most important thing in the world to him. He loved her beyond life and death. He would do anything to keep her safe.

Hinata unconsciously snuggled more closely to Naruto, her gentle curves fitting to his body. Love exploded inside of his heart.

The next few hours were the best sleep he had ever had.

* * *

A/N: Ok! There you go! The latest chapter in my saga! I hope this meets everyone's expectations, but for the lemon. This is honestly more like the first part of chapter 11, and the next will be 11.5. I just didn't want to do the whole damn thing in one go like that.

Please forgive any grammatical errors; I didn't run this by any beta, so it's all on me. I like it like that, you know? If someone points out something major, I'll go back and fix it.

I have two Naruto stories that I'm planning on doing, maybe at the same time as this, or maybe later on. The first is a story that's been running through my skull for a while: Basically, it's a "what if" story, as in "what if Orochimaru had never turned into an evil bastard and betrayed the village" kind of deals.

The other one is another idea that I got about two months ago. It takes place a few years into the future, and Konoha is under attack and is destroyed. Naruto attempts to travel back in time to prevent it from happening, but accidentally sends his soul to his eight-year-old self... The day before the Uchiha slaughter. He prevents it, and changes the course of history as we know it.

Which should I do? It's up to you people! Make me proud!

As usual, please review. They make me happy.


	12. The Gathering

A/N: Hey there! Thanks for coming back to Rising Star! I had major writer's block for a while, and still have it. Been working on this chapter for a good bit, and just haven't been able to make any headway lately. I decided the chapter was long enough, and just cut out the last thousand words or so to have it end gracefully. I'm gonna make this quick, I gots things to do, and ya'll want to read on a bit.

Time to respond to reviews! Good and juicy reviews!

**Dragon Man 180: One of my most loyal readers :-) Yeah, I'm thinking of going toward an "Orochimaru is good" fic too. Would open up a lot of ideas. I mean, most of the early story is centered around him, right? Should keep things interesting. That's gonna be my next project, probably. Keep your fingers crossed!**

**narutos vixen: There will most likely be a time skip, but some of the events the students go through will be shown. I'll probably dedicate a chapter to each of the Sanseirei, glossing over their training from their own perspective.**

**ueenboogie 16: I'm so glad you enjoy my story! I was thinking about the time travel fic myself, but it turns out there are already a few of those, most of which are quite good. I don't want my stories to be measured up against other's stories, especially when their writing style is so much better than mine. And for the record, at this point in the fic, each of the Sanseirei are 13 years old.**

**animekingmike: You got it! Congrats on being the first to spot that! I'll admit, when I have trouble thinking of names for OCs, I go back to my favorite anime and manga. BTW, does anyone read "Soul Eater"? I'll give you a hint... The samurai in this fic? Think of really nasty, vile swords... and you might just get it right what his special abilities are.**

**Anthurak the Chaos Lord: Sorry for the long wait, man. Really. I've been busy. Not a good excuse, but still. I liked it too.**

**Silver Warrior: Another of my loyal followers. Yamamoto should worry you. Really, really worry you.**

**djz3r0310: I worked exceedingly hard to make the fights simple. Thanks. Haven't read your story yet, but I'll try to get to it soon, ok?**

**Nexus the 13th: I feel ya, man. Juts give it a chance. Guns? I just needed a plausible thing to blow his hand off :-)**

**Ren Mizuki: Again, glad you like it! Here's more juicy goodness!**

Read on, warriors!

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Naruto was having the most wonderful dream he'd ever had. In it, he was the happiest he'd ever been; he was holding the most wonderfully bright star in the universe tightly in his arms and couldn't, wouldn't let go. The star was a center of security for his soul and his heart. With it, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he would be safe from any harm that could ever come to him.

There was a voice in the distance, somewhere beyond the vastness of space, calling him. The voice was new, and young, and sweet. It was a nice voice, but not _the _voice.

_Wake up, please, _the voice said, once, then again. _Please wake up!_

_Why wake up? _Naruto thought. _What's the point?_

He felt all of a sudden a rush, a falling sensation. His heart lurched out of his chest as he woke up with a start. Hinata was in his arms, and the mid-afternoon sun was poking through the window to land on his side and back. Hinata was snuggled deeply in his arms, her back to his chest and folded completely against his whole body.

He looked up through weary eyes; the person who had woken him up was standing, smiling, behind him on the side of the bed opposite the door.

She was a pretty girl; young, about fourteen, maybe. Her bright pink long-sleeved kimono was a stark contrast to the demur surroundings. She had hair so black it appeared to have a blue under-glow. Green eyes poked out from under her short bangs, and the rest of her shoulder-length hair was pinned to the right side of her head with a pair of clips that looked like flowers. A small nose complemented her pale face, and naturally-red lips finished her image. "Are you awake?" she asked with a light voice. "Um, daddy's back, and he'd like to see you, please!"

Naruto moved, shifting Hinata from her place against him. "Ugh," he said as he rubbed his eyes. "Yeah, I'm… yawn… awake," he said. She laughed with her hand in front of her mouth. "Heh, maybe not," he said with a smile of his own.

"Maybe not," she parroted. "It's ok, take a minute. I'm always groggy after I wake up from an afternoon nap, too."

"Yeah…What time is it?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, just about half past three," the girl said. "My father got home about ten minutes ago, and he told me to find out where you guys were."

"Thanks," Naruto said gratefully. "It's been a… hard day. We needed the rest."

The girl laughed. "You sounded like it, for sure," she said. "Your snoring was audible from down the hall!"

Naruto blushed. "It's always with the snoring," he muttered to himself. Hinata began squirming awake by his side. "And I bet she was silent as the grave, right?"

"Yep!" she said.

Naruto rolled his eyes as Hinata sat up and rubbed her own eyes awake. She yawned loudly and deeply. "You up yet?" he asked her as he rubbed her back soothingly.

"Yeah, yeah," she mumbled. "Just… five more minutes, ok?" She started laying back down, but Naruto put his fingers to her side and tickled her upright. With a yelp, she swung an arm good-naturedly at his head. He ducked backwards, and the strike sailed right over him. She overbalanced, and somehow fell back, over, and off the bed. Naruto laughed, but he was quickly mollified when Hinata slowly rose to her feet.

"Seijuro," she said slowly, enunciating the syllables of his alias.

Naruto jumped off the bed and backed away as quickly as possible. "Uh… Heh… Um, please don't—hurt me?"

Hinata calmly walked around the bed and grabbed her pack and sword. She pulled it free from its scabbard, slowly, and inspected the blade. It retained blood along its polished surface, which she slowly fingered. "Come on," she said as she slammed the sword back into its sheath. "Her father is waiting for us. Oh! I didn't get your name," she exclaimed. She strapped her sword to her back, and held out a hand to the other girl.

"I'm Kaoru," she said with a bright smile. "Nagasaki Kaoru, daughter of the lord of this province. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

Hinata smiled—though Naruto noticed that it was somewhat strained. He could understand why; they had been sent here to kill her father, after all. "The pleasure is mine," she said. "I am Shinomori Misao, of Rice country." She glanced over toward Naruto. "This is my idiot… boyfriend, Tsukioka Seijuro. You've already met our friend, Nagano Yahiko?"

Kaoru nodded. "Yes, just a few minutes ago. He was with his father—He is his father, right? They look so much alike!"

Naruto nodded as he laughed. "Yeah, they're family," he said. "Father and son. Yahiko's been training since he was a child to be a samurai. Misao and I have only been with them for the past couple years or so."

"Hmm, ok," Kaoru said. "That makes sense. Tell me all about it later, but right now Father's waiting and he's not really known for being patient!"

Hinata laughed. She was beginning to warm up to the girl. "I understand," she said. "Yahiko-sensei is the same way, usually. Which is weird, seeing as he's usually the late one."

Kaoru smirked. "That's Father, too," she said. "No sense of timing--except for meals, anyway."

Hinata chuckled as she slipped her shoes on. "Seijuro here's the one who can't keep his stomache in line for our little group."

The girls made small talk as Naruto gathered his few belongings. It wasn't difficult; they amounted to his own shoes, his pack, and his sword. "Ready to go?" he asked Hinata as he tied his blade over his shoulder.

Hinata nodded. "Yes," she said. To Kaoru she said, "Lead the way, please. We don't want to be late, right? You're the boss!"

With a smile, Kaoru nodded and left the room with Hinata and Naruto closely in tow. She lead them out of the clinic, out into the bright sunshine. In the light, the manor appeared different than what it had earlier, although that could be a false perception due to Naruto's panic over Hinata's condition. As Naruto finally took a really good look around, he took in all that he had to see from his vantage point.

In the back of his mind, he'd noted that the place was beautiful, but he hadn't stopped to pay attention. Now that he had a few minutes to stop and smell the roses, so to speak, he could appreciate it.

Based on the position of the sun and time of day, Naruto guessed that they were on the eastern side of the manor. He looked to the south, and saw a thick grove of trees some two hundred yards behind the home. A path lead to the copse and through the middle of it. "What's over there?" Naruto asked Kaoru, nodding his head that way.

The girl smiled. "There's a natural hot spring back there," she said. "It's steaming year-round, and only house staff or my family can get to it. Oh, we're not being greedy! They're all over the place around here, we've just privatized this one."

They walked north, toward the front doors and away from the woods. A few moments passed in calm silence as the trio finally reached the official threshold of the single-level home. Kaoru walked up the short flight of steps to the double doors and opened the right one. "Father's through here, in the informal dining room," she said as she lead them inside. "The informal dining room, or 'The Nook' as we call it, is where we take our normal meals. When Father holds parties for special occasions, we dine in the formal dining area-- 'The Cave', just don't tell anyone we call it that, please!"

The two undercover shinobi laughed along with their host. "Why call it 'The Cave'?" Hinata asked Kaoru.

"Well..." Kaoru stopped at a large door to their right as they walked down a hall. "See for yourself." She opened the door--

And one of the largest rooms Naruto had ever seen in his life opened up to him. A fifteen-foot staircase dropped down, and a glamorous room about a hundred and twenty feet long by eighty wide. Naruto had to kneel down slightly to see the end of the room--a large portion of it was underground, which was why it wasn't visable from the outside. Thinking back on it, there was a conspicuous lack of construction at the rear end of the home.

Lamps lined the walls, and chandeleers strewn with crystal shards hung from the ceiling. Several dozen tables were pushed up against the walls on each side, most long and narrow, but there were a few wide circular ones here and there. The floor was made of white marble that seemed to help resonate any sound that might be made there.

"Wow," said Naruto, dumbfounded. "Yeah, I cansee why you call it 'The Cave'..."

Kaoru smiled as she closed the door and lead them on through the hall. "We only use the room two or three times a year," she said. "It's just so much easier to eat in a smaller room, right?"

Hinata nodded at Kaoru. "Good point. Wouldn't want to have to clean that place up every day."

The girls chatted aimlessly for the next couple minutes, while Naruto's mind focused on the task at hand. For the moment, Hinata seemed to have forgotten that their job was to assassinate Kaoru's father, but that fact was never far from the center of his mind. Every one of his thoughts swirled around that central concept: She was supposed to kill someone, and the only thing Naruto could to about it was help set it up.

A flash of anger flitted from him. It felt... Oh, gods, it felt like the anger he sometimes had when the Kyuubi was there with him. How could that be? Sarutobi had placed an additional seal set over his original one, blocking Kyuubi's access to the outside world. Maybe... Maybe the seal was breaking? Naruto shuddered at the thought. If the fox were to escape here-- "Disaster" couldn't even begin to describe what could happen.

Hinata seemed to pick up on Naruto's feelings, and sobered up somewhat, although Kaoru was oblivious. Hinata let the conversation peter out as they walked through the beige hallway. Kaoru seemed to take the silence well enough; she walked slightly ahead of Hinata, and Naruto sidled up next to his love. They exchanged glances--Hinata seemed to have as much apprehension as Naruto, but she was doing a much better job at hiding her fears.

Naruto set his jaw. He had to strengthen his resolve, for her sake, as well as his.

Kaoru stopped at a door on the right. "This is the Nook," she said. "My father, your master, and the other samurai are back here. Shall we?" She opened the door and lead them inside.

The room was lit with oil lamps along the walls, and a half-dozen candles lined a twelve-foot long table. At its head sat Nagasaki, with a space to his right. Left of him, going down the table, sat Yamamoto and the rest of his samurai. To his right, opposite the guard unit, was Kakashi and Sasuke. In front of each person was a small empth sakazuki, or saucer-shaped dish. Two sakazuki sat in places obviously meant for Hinata and Naruto in the empty spots next to Sasuke. A small flask was near Nagasaki, and the symbol for "sake" was painted on it.

"Sorry for keeping you, Father," Kaoru said as she made her way toward Nagasaki and took her place next to him. She sat next to him, but not as close as she could have. Naruto noticed that her speech had seamlessly flown into a more formal tone. With Hinata and himself, she seemed more carefree and vibrant. In her father's presence, though...

Naruto again caught Hinata's eye. She nodded ever so slightly. So, she had caught on, too.

Naruto didn't know why he hadn't put two and two together. Their secondary pretense for Nagasaki's assassination, and possibly their method of murder, was his theoretical pedophilia. Any admiration Naruto might have had, any thanks, instantly went out the window. In less time than it took to sit down, Naruto had already calculated the probability of his being able to leap at the man and decapitate him without being killed in the process. He wasn't excellent at that kind of mental math, but even he could tell that his chances were zero.

He knelt at the low table next to Sasuke, in an effort to keep Hinata as far as humanly possible from Nagasaki. It was an miniscule gesture, though Hinata seemed to appreciate it.

"You are just in time," Nagasaki said. "I understand that your young charge has gone through a lot today," he directed at Kakashi, "so of course she would take a little bit of time to come to terms with it."

Kakashi nodded at the lord. "Thank you for your understanding, and your hospitality," he said. "This has been an unusual day for us all. You didn't have to let us have access to your personal physician, and for that I--and Misao, I'm sure--am eternally grateful."

Naruto felt Hinata tense next to him. _Calm down, calm down! _he mentally projected to her. It seemed to work; she relaxed, if slightly.

Nagasaki waved his hand in the air dismissively. "Think nothing of it," he said. "After the way I behaved when we met, I think we can call it even between our two parties."

Kakashi nodded his agreement. "As you wish. Last night was the only time in three weeks or so that we'd been able to sleep on a bed, and even a short reprieve such as a recovery ward in your clinic is welcome." He looked at Sasuke with an apologetic smile. "Sorry," he said with a laugh.

Sasuke shrugged. "Whatever," he said. "No big deal."

"...In any case," Kakashi continued, "there are a few questions that I'd like to ask you about what had transpired earlier, if you don't mind."

Nagasaki focused his attention on the masked shinobi. "I understand," he said slowly. "I have a few questions of my own, as well." He poured a draw from the sake bottle into his saucer. "First, would you like some sake? I don't mean to go off topic, but I find it helps meetings such as these go a bit more smoothly."

Kakashi cocked an eyebrow. "Sake during a meeting?" He smiled as he accepted the proffered bottle from Nagasaki. "I like your style." He poured a splash into his saucer, downed it, then poured another. "This is good stuff. Ricchi sake?"

Nagasaki nodded, obviously pleased. "You know your sake," he said with a smile. "Yes, Ricchi sake, from Rice country."

"Good stuff," Kakashi said again as he slowly drained his second serving of sake. With a deft flick of his wrist, he tossed the open bottle to Yamamoto, who caught it easily. He smirked, and from chest height upended the bottle to splash his own sakazuki. Miraculously, not a single drop fell outside of the dish.

"Showoff," muttered Ishin, the bodyguard in a suit, with a wry smile as he more stoically poured his own drink and passed the bottle down to the other two samurai. As one, the guard and their lord downed their beverages and set down the shallow cups.

Sasuke looked at Kakashi, but before he could say anything, Kakashi shook his head. "Don't even think about it," he said.

"But--"

"No."

"Ple--"

"No."

Naruto chuckled as Sasuke crossed his arms and-- Oh, gods, he couldn't help but grin-- Sasuke _pouted. _"Whatever," he mumbled.

"You don't let your children imbibe, Yahiko-san?"

Kakashi chuckled as he set his dish down on the low table. "Sake should only be drunk by people who are like sake--properly aged."

"Well said," Nagasaki said. "Well said indeed. I, too, usually don't allow my daughter to drink, although sometimes I let it get by."

"In that case," Kakashi asked, "why does she have a sake dish in front of her?"

The girl smiled. "It's house tradition," she said. "It's supposed to symbolize a welcome place for anybody who comes into our home."

Kakashi hummed. "If you say so..." His voice trailed off, and he set the sake cup on the table. "Enough with the pleasantries: to business."

Nagasaki nodded. "To business," he echoed. "Let's keep this simple, and take turns asking and answering each other?"

Kakashi nodded in affirmation. "Good idea. I'll go first. First of all, why were you and your guard all that way from home today?"

The noble smiled. "We were going to the town of Kusagai for the festival," he said. "I try to make it there every year; I was a little late in getting there this year, but better late than never."

"The festival there started yesterday!" Hinata said.

Nagasaki smiled somewhat condescendingly at the young woman. "It is a seven-day festival; this is the first time in nine years that I haven't personally witnessed the initial fireworks display. I have a penthouse suite reserved for my guards and myself. I had already sent some personal belongings there a few days ago..." He trailed off with a sigh. "Looks like I'm going to have to skip it this year."

Kakashi's body language relaxed somewhat. "I am truly sorry for that," he said. "There was no way for me to have known this would happen... Any of it."

The lord's lips thinned. "Which leads me to my own first question," he said. "Those bandits attacked you and yours, but not my own party. Why do you think that is?"

Kakashi sighed. "Probably because you're more well known around here, or perhaps your men have reputations. I don't know, really. Maybe they thought that attacking four grown, and obviously experienced, swordsmen guarding one man would be a mistake. I got a pretty good judge of their skill level during the fight-- They were ok, but even samurai who don't utilize chakra could mop the floor with them. Why'd they attack us? I really don't know... It's possible that they thought we were an easier target than them. It's a mystery to me."

"There is truth in his words," Ishin, the suited-samurai spoke out. "I know that I would under-estimate a child, for no other reason than I was older and more experienced. It's a flaw all warriors have at one point or another."

"I agree," said Nagasaki. "I'm just glad your children, and you, were skilled enough to handle them by yourselves. As soon as we arrived, I had a messenger sent to the mortician to have a crew sent to retrieve the bodies of those bandits. They may have been thieves, but they deserve a decent funeral."

"Kind of you," said Kakashi. "My turn. Will you permit my children and I to pass through your land? I understand the sword ban, but this really is the fastest way through your country to our destination."

Nagasaki and Yamamoto exchanged a glance. "Actually... We'd like to ask you to do something else," Nagasaki said. "If you don't mind..."

Kakashi slammed a closed fist on the table, rattling the earthenware sake bottle enough to tip it over. "I know what you're going to say," Kakashi said with a growl. "The answer is no. Not a chance. I'm not going to work for you, Nagasaki-san. I appreciate your help with my pupil, but I can't stay here with three children for more than a day. I already have a job lined up, and honestly I like my prospects there better than here." He snorted. "You probably couldn't even afford me, anyway."

Dead silence reigned in the air. Kaoru had a look of pure shock on her face as she gaped, open-mouthed, at her father, then Kakashi.

_What is he thinking?! _Naruto thought to himself as he struggled to maintain a straight face. _Is he insane?!_

**Not insane, **Sando said to Naruto, speaking for the first time that day. **He's making the gamble of his life. Watch how it pans out. You might learn something.**

Yamamoto casually picked up the sake bottle off of the table and peered inside. With a shrug, he put it to his lips and drained the last little bit. "Maybe," he said slowly, wiping his lips, "if we hear your story in full detail, we might be able to negotiate a little bit without some of the yelling. It's not every day he sees someone he likes. And don't worry: whatever your rates, he can _definitely _afford you."

Kakashi kept his silence for a moment. He peered into the eyes of everyone else at the table he hadn't come with. Slowly, the pulled his sword, still in its scabbard, from his waist and set it on the table before him. He grasped the hilt and the middle of the sheath and drew the blade in painstakingly-slow movement.

For the first time, Naruto had a good look at the sword Kakashi carried. The grip was longer than an average sword's by about two inches. The hilt guard was in a tear-drop shape, and the blade itself...

There was something... _uncertain... _about the blade. Whatever it was, Naruto couldn't focus his eyes on the edge for more than a split second without sliding one way or another. It, too, was somewhat elongated, longer than an average katana, but only by three or four inches. Not a scratch or nick marred the sword; it was perfect in every way.

"This is my sword, Supakamaru. It is the inheritance blade of my school of kendo, the Denkou Tosshin no Kami. This katana is unique in the world, as far as I know, in that it resonates with the body and somehow _knows _it's wielder's intention. It is extremely sharp, and has never had need to be honed by stone or steel. I do not consciously draw in battle; when I have need, the blade itself directs my body. If I want to cut, the sword cuts. If I want to protect, the sword protects. If I want to destroy... You get the idea.

"My school promotes self-defense and life above all else. There are dozens of defensive techniques, but only a few offensive. I learned my art form from my master, a former samurai from Iron. He opened a school, and for a time there was peace in our land.

"The land of Rice has always been peaceful. As its name suggests, the land is uniquely suited for high-quality rice, among other crops. Food is a major export, and we supplied almost every country in the world. The military we had was hardly a token force. Swordsmen and wandering shinobi were enough to guard caravans coming in and going out of our country."

"This is common knowledge," Nagasaki said, his eyes transfixed on the blade.

"Yes..." Kakashi replied, "but that's only the beginning of the story. Three years ago, the Daimyou of rice suddenly decided that we needed a force of shinobi. Most of the various ninja clans in Rice, small though they were, agreed to join what is now Sound Village. Those individuals with above-average skills in combat, whether they were ninja or not, were invited as well.

"Some, however, resisted the move. When high-level warriors were found, they were drafted into service. Penalties for refusal were stiff. Some had to be... _Encouraged._" Kakashi paused, as if reliving old, hard memories. "My master was against the action from the start, even when his students joined in droves. Most of them could use chakra, to some level, so they made promising shinobi.

"I was the only one with him, the last of his students when... someone decided to make an example of him."

Nagasaki held up his hand. "That's enough. I get the point. I understand."

Kakashi clenched his fist. "No, you _don't _understand. You've never had the walls torn down around you while dozens of shinobi stormed the only place you've called home for the better half of your life. You've never fought side-by-side with someone, killing anyone who came at you. You've never seen... Never seen the man you loved most give all he had, only to fall under the numbers.

"The Sound killed my master. Before he died, he left me the title of the master of our style, and he gave me the Supakamaru. I quickly realized the power behind it." Kakashi narrowed his eyes. "The only desire in my heart was 'vengence'... So..." He slumped. "I blacked out. I honestly think the sword took over my body for a few moments. When I came to, I was the only one left alive. Limbs, hands, severed heads littered the ground around me." Kakashi looked hard into Nagasaki's eyes. "That's why my blade is defensive. It is meant for peace. I cannot afford to be in a position of 'kill or be killed.' That is why I cannot work for you."

Nagasaki pressed his lips together into a thin white line. "You have my condolences," he said evenly. "I sympathize with what you have gone through. I cannot imagine what it would be like to have your life ripped from you like that. But I wouldn't be asking you to consider working for me if I didn't think it would benefit the both of us."

Kakashi slowly sheathed his sword. "What do you mean by that?" he asked. "You already seem to have a competent staff of guards; what more could you want?"

Nagasaki cast an eye at Yamamoto and Ishin, the two samurai who seemed to be in charge of his security. "These two," he said, "have worked for me for a few years now. They are both master-class swordsmen, top level. Besides them, I have Narusaki Umo and Kensei Kenichi, who are nearly as good. They've been a part of my household for about eight years each, and have served me and mine loyally in that time.

"My house has another half-dozen swordsmen who rotate shifts, two at a time. They come and go occasionally, but nobody here's actually tied to the house. These are good men, and they earn a good living making sure we all stay safe."

"...Ok," Kakashi said slowly. "So you've got a lot of security. Either you're paranoid, or someone wants to kill you, and you know it. Which is it?"

Ishin, the suited samurai, chuckled. "Oh, he's paranoid, all right," he said, "but there really are some folks out there who want him dead, and he needs all the help he can get."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. "I don't get it, though," he said. "You already have these guys; what do you need me for?"

Nagasaki sighed. "The problem, honestly?" He jerked a thumb at his samurai captains. "The problem is these two over here."

"Say what?" blurted Naruto.

Yamamoto laughed and slapped his knee. "He's telling the truth," he said. "We really are his biggest pains in the ass."

Nagasaki sighed, closed his eyes, and rubbed his right temple. "The problem is," he said, "is their personalities. Yamamoto tells me he wouldn't get involved in a fight unless he was the only guard I had left, and Ishin is, in his own words, a 'one trick pony.'"

"One... trick pony?" Hinata asked.

Yamamoto grinned as he twirled the empty sake bottle in his fingers. "Oh, you're gonna love this," he said with a twisted grin.

"Yama..." Ishin said. "You know I don't like showing off like this."

"Oh, come on!" Yamamoto said. "It'll be fun!"

Ishin groaned. "Do I have to?" he asked, but a small smirk belied his irritation.

"Yep!" Yamamoto said. With a flick of his fingers he tossed the sake bottle into the air just in front of Yamamoto-- And it fell to the table with a clank.

"What just happened?" Sasuke asked. "Am I supposed to be impressed?"

Yamamoto smiled. "Pick up the bottle," he said. "Go ahead."

Sasuke hesitated, then did as he was asked. He grasped the lip of the bottle and picked up-- the _top half._

"What the hell?!" he exclaimed. He examined the cut: the bottle was perfectly bisected at the middle with the cleanest cut he had ever seen. "He didn't draw his sword, how did he do that?"

Nagasaki smiled. "Tell him, Ishin," he said.

The samurai sighed again. "About ten years ago," he said, "my muscles in my right shoulder got smashed when a bookshelf fell on me. When they healed, they knit together distortedly to the point where I can pretty much twitch my shoulder blade and my arm flexes back over my shoulder. A swordsman saw this one day, and started teaching me some of the basics of kendo. Eventually, he taught me battōjutsu from over my shoulder, and over the next half-dozen years I pretty much just trained that one skill to the point where I can move faster than the naked eye. I haven't yet lost a duel in... Nine years? That's about right."

"So... You drew your sword, cut the bottle, and then sheathed your blade without us even seeing or hearing _anything?_" Naruto asked. "Wow."

"What did you do before you became a swordsman?" Kakashi asked.

Ishin laughed. "I was an accountant," he said with a smile. "I do the taxes for everyone who works and lives here, and some of the villagers nearby on the side."

"An accountant," muttered Kakashi. "An accountant. Just great." He looked at one of the other samurai-- Kenichi. "Let me guess, you're a master cook as well, right?"

Kenichi lauged good-naturedly. "No, no," he said. "I'm just a samurai, same as Umo-san here. But we're not on the same level of these freaks over here. No offense. You could've killed me after you broke my sword earlier. I know I'm not the best samurai in the world, but I do my best. My job is to keep these two alive, but if I can't do it, I want to make _damn _sure we have who it takes to do so."

"I'm sorry about the sword, really," Kakashi said, "but I still don't know why you need someone else on staff."

"Safety in numbers," Yamamoto said. "Lately, there have been attempts on lord Nagasaki-sama's life, each one more close to success than the last. We... A friend of ours died three months ago by a surprise attack when we went to town. Someone threw a sword. It was a lucky throw, and it got him in the back."

Kenichi's body posture tensed. "We grew up together," he said. "He was my friend, ever since we were kids. But don't worry; I got his killer's head in payment."

A chill went up Naruto's spine. This man was _dangerous. _"My condolences. You've lost a friend protecting this man. Why do people want him dead, though?"

"We don't know," Yamamoto said, perhaps a bit too quickly. "This started about a year ago, and it hasn't let up since. For the life of me, I can't figure out who wants him dead, or why. He's fair with his people here, good to the villagers around here, and keeps taxes fairly low. He doesn't abuse his position, or give special favors to anyone. It's beyond me."

_He's lying, _Naruto thought. _He's lying very well, but I can tell. I don't know what he's lying _about, _but it's in there somewhere._

"Strength in numbers," Kakashi murmured. "I don't believe this." He looked directly at Nagasaki. "Let's say I entertain for a moment working for you," he said. "What kind of pay are we talking about? What are the terms of service?"

Nagasaki smiled slightly. "Three thousand ryo a day," he said, "plus room and board. Your children will be permitted to stay here as well, free of charge. A small allowance could be made to them-- How does a thousand ryo a week sound to you?"

Kakashi cocked an eye. "That sounds... fair," he said. "What about hazard pay, or compensation?"

"If you get injured in the line of duty, your medical expenses will be paid for. In the event of your death, your children will have the option of staying here if they wish, at the expense of my household. If they wish, they can work for me when they are ready, but they will not be forced."

Kakashi did some quick mental math. "What is the length of the contract?" he asked.

"I ask for a five-year contract," Nagasaki said. "I offer the best conditions, and I expect the best service in return."

Kakashi glanced sideways at his students. "Well... I don't know," he said. "Can I take some time to talk to my kids about it? I don't make any decision without throwing it their way."

Yamamoto nodded. "Of course," he said. "I'll expect your final decision tomorrow morning. Until then, let me offer you and your children rooms in my home, as guests of my house." He looked to his side, to his daughter. "Kaoru," he said, "will you please escort these people to the guest quarters?"

"Yes, father," she said evenly. She rose, as did everyone else in the room. "Collect your belongings, please, and follow me." She exited the room, and Kakashi and the Sanseirei fell in close behind her. Nagasaki and the samurai stayed in the informal dining room, however, and as soon as the door shut behind them Naruto could hear them beginning to converse. What they were saying, however, he couldn't discern, as they quickly moved out of ear-shot; to remain behind to spy would have been impossibly risky.

Kaoru lead them down a hall and to the left, down the south branch of the west wing. "Down here is the guest rooms," Kaoru said, he bright and bubbly personality coming back into the fray in the absense of her father and his guard. "There's six or seven rooms down here, sometimes for guests of my father, or when family comes to town. Sarutobi, the Hokage of Konoha, stayed here once a while back, actually."

"Really?" asked Naruto, trying to keep his voice casual. "How long ago was that?"

"Oh... about a year ago, give or take a month," Kaoru said. "Why?"

Naruto shrugged as his host stopped at a door. "Eh, just seems like a big deal."

"Not really," Kaoru said. "He smoked something weird, made the room smell pretty weird."

Hinata giggled. "Really? Wow."

Kaoru smiled. "Yeah. Dunno what it was. Anyway... Here's your room, Misao-chan." The girls walked in, with Naruto and Sasuke just behind them. Kakashi stayed in the hall.

The room was spacious and comforting. Light blue was painted on the walls, and ornamental portraits dotted them here and there. The setting sun shined into the air, giving the place a peaceful feeling that Naruto could appreciate. A few flowers pressed in glass sat on a darkly-lacquered desk by the window. "W-wow," Hinata stammared as she looked closely at her surroundings. "This... this is for me?"

Kaoru smiled sweetly. "Yep!" she said as she swept into the room and opened the closet. "All for you, friend!"

Hinata looked awestruck as she slowly walked into the room. "I... I don't knfow what to say," she said. "This..." Tears began forming in the corner of her eyes. "I've never..."

Naruto embraced her as she burst into quiet tears. "I--I'm sorry!" Kaoru said hastily. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, no," Naruto said as she pressed her face into his chest. "You're fine. It's just... Well, we've never stayed in a place like this, and her life back home--Let's just say that her father wasn't the nicest man inf the world. For the past three years, we've stayed in shabby hotels and camped outside, mostly." He smiled sadly as he stroked her hair and hugged her tightly against himself. "Kindness from total strangers is still pretty new to each other. 'Culture shock' is kind of an understatement."

"Oh!" she said. She reddened in embarassment. "I didn't-- Misao, I'm so sorry!"

Hinata sniffed as she gently pulled away from Naruto and wiped he nose with the back of her hand. "I-it's ok," she said with a small smile. "You didn't mean anything by it." She hung her head. "It's a very n-nice room," she said, and bowed to the other girl. "Thank you, very much."

Kaoru politely bowed back. "You are welcome," she said. They both straighten up, and Kaoru turned to Naruto. "Seijuro-kun," she said, "Misao-chan said earlier that you are her boyfriend. Is this true?"

"Er-- Well... Yeah, it's true," he said. "Lately, we're inseparable, really."

Kaoru nodded. "Good," she said. "Would you like to stay here with her? It seems like she needs you, and I don't want to split you apart. Will that be fine with you?"

Naruto looked to Hinata, and saw her grateful smile. "Yes, I would," he said. "Thank you, Kaoru-san," he said to his benefactor. "But will this be ok with your father?"

Kaoru's smile stiffened. "What father doesn't know won't hurt him," she said. "Or me, as a matter of fact."

A forboding chill crept down Naruto's spine at her last words. Hurt her? He didn't like the sound of that. They hadn't been there even one day, and already Naruto felt like he could justify murdering the girl's father.

"We'll try to keep it quiet," Hinata said.

"Thank you," said Koaru. "Now, Yahiko?" She turned her attention to Sasuke, who had stayed out of the picture by leaning against the door's framing. "I'll show you your room, ok?"

Sasuke shrugged as he hefted his pack. "Sure," he said as he exited after the girl. "It's your party."

They left the room, and Hinata closed the door behind them. Silence filled the room as they stood breathless, staring at each other. They strained their ears for a couple moments, listening to Kaoru guide Sasuke and Kakashi to their own rooms. They heard her walk past their room... Pause for a second... But she walked on without intruding on them.

Hinata flew to Naruto and leapt into his arms with a smile and a quiet laugh. "How was _that?_" she asked with a grin as she put her arms around his neck and wrapped her legs around his waist. He locked his hands together under her thighs to support he weight, and threw his own grin back at her.

"You," he said, punctuating each word with a short kiss on her own lips, "were magnificent!" He laughed and spun around in place, making Hinata squeal aloud sharply, quickly followed by bubbly laughter. Naruto fell backwards onto the bed with Hinata on top of him, her hair falling loosely onto his face. "You had me fooled for a moment there," he said as he looked into her eyes. "I really thought you were crying for a minute there!"

Hinata smirked. "Of course I did," she said. "If I couldn't fool you, how could I get anyone else?" Hinata's ploy had been simple: falsify being overwhelmed by the room and their kindness, and have Kaoru sympathize with her emotionally. True, she hadn't expected her to be the one to suggest them staying together... But she would take what she could get.

Next, she had hidden her eyes from Kaoru's view and quickly activated her Byakugan to scan the room for anything that might be a surveylance device. A split second was all that she needed to verify that there was nothing there, or even in any one of the rooms near them. Even through the mask that she wore, the Byakugan would shine on through with the light that seemed to now be a part of her eyes. It was critical that it be done as soon as possible; in case something really had been there, doing something like hiding her face could be suspicious.

Naruto smiled up at her. "You are so evil," he laughed.

Hinata flattened herself against him and kissed him fully. "Mmm...hmmm," she moaned. Their lips parted with a slight _smack._ "Oh, yeah," she said with a wicked grin. "I'm so evil."

"...Yeah," Naruto said after a moment of just looking at her face. "But you know what?" He lightly bopped his forhead against hers and held it there. "I love you, no matter how good or bad you are."

Hinata laughed and fell off of Naruto to the side. She rested her head against the crook of his shoulder and lay against him, basking in his body warmth. "I feel bad, though," she said after a while of just laying there together. "We had to lie to Kaoru-chan... And I actually kind of like her."

Naruto sighed as he nuzzled his hair. "So do I," he said softly. "Did you pick up the tension at the meeting?"

Hinata hummed the afirmative. "There's... _something _going on in here," she said. "I don't know what, though. Our mission is to find evidence against Nagasaki, right?"

Naruto nodded. "That's right," he said.

"But if we can't, we're supposed to kill him? Well... _I'm _supposed to kill him, anyway, right?"

Naruto hugged her tighter against him. "I--guess so."

"But what kind of evidence are we looking for?" she asked. "Documentation? Hidden money? A slip of the tongue?"

Naruto huffed. "Maybe... I don't know. I just don't know. I've been dreading this almost as much as you, you know."

She looked up toward his eyes, and he back down at her. "I know," she said softly. "I can't even believe I'm actually saying this, but... Can't I just kill him when I have a chance? This is, technically, an assassination. Can we just get it over with?"

Her scent was almost intoxicating, but he managed to keep a clear head. "I wish it was that simple," he said. "But how would it look if he died tonight? Or tomorrow night, just after we got here? No, we need to hold on a while. Stay here, learn what we can. Three, maybe four weeks. If we find something before then, fine. But barring that..." He kissed the top of her head. "We'll just have to do what we can to pass the time."

Hinata laughed and looked up at Naruto. "Hold on, boy," she cooed. "We'll pass the time, all right... But there isn't going to be anything you might be thinking of going on in here."

Naruto pouted comically. "Man," he grumbled. "Why not?"

Hinata again nuzzled against him. The sudden contact made Naruto stiffen, then relax against her. Their bodies fit together perfectly. "Because..." she said softly, "I don't want anyone to disturb us, or get too into our business. Sasuke and Kakashi are right over _there_, do you want them walking in on us?"

"I guess not," Naruto sighed. Hinata reached up with her free hand and held onto Naruto's. "But I can't be here, holding you every night, with you so close to me without..." He blushed as he let the sentence trail off.

Hinata smiled at his modesty. For all that he was capable of, it was just so _cute _how red he got when he was embarassed. "Can I tell you a secret?" she asked her lover.

He chuckled. "Anything, of course."

"My Byakugan," she said, "has gotten much more powerful since we became the Sanseirei. With that little glance I took a bit ago, I saw everything within about a mile of here, and... Well... Let's just say, the hot springs in the back part of the property looks very... _Inviting._"

Naruto's arousal hit a peak; he never could keep his body under control when Hinata began talking even a little bit lewdly. His idea of the potential for a midnight rendezvous was obvious as his pants strained to keep his dick contained. "That... sounds nice," he said, knowing what an understatement it was.

Hinata buried her nose in his chest and hummed. "It does, doesn't it?" she said faintly. "We'll... see about it later, though, maybe," she yawned. "I'm really... tired... again..."

Naruto moved to make Hinata more comfortable on the bed. He shifted her so that she was laying length-wise, head to foot, instead of just letting her legs dangle off the side. "It's ok," he said softly into her ear as her eyes fluttered close. "Sleep, beautiful, for as long as you want. I'll be right here when you wake up."

She fell asleep, her head turned just to the side on the soft blue pillow. Innocence radiated from her in all directions. She was beautiful, not matter what face she wore... But, still, she was always beautiful when she slept. He could watch her sleep for hours.

* * *

Ambient light shone into the moodily-lit room as the first heralds of sunrise streaked across the sky. Light reflected off of the trees across the courtyard, and the seemingly-perpetually leaved trees that made Fire nation famous basked in their glorious hues.

Naruto's eye lids felt heavy with leftover sleep as they fluttered open. He felt... rested. Yes, rested, truely restored. He glanced across the short space between himself and Hinata. Her eyes were still closed, and her lips were pursed in a little pout. _I wonder what she's dreaming about,_ he thought with a smile. _I'd love to get into her head._

Naruto studied her altered face. It was a nice face, to be sure. It was one that he'd gotten used to seeing over the past few weeks, and still enjoyed seeing. He'd gotten used to kissing those lips, brushing that cheek with the back of his hand. He knew, though, that the face was just a face... just a mask, just like his own was. What was important was the person underneath, and the gentle soul inside of her.

After all of this time... He was still finding things, almost daily, to love about her. Every time he thought he'd run out, she surprised him again.

He shifted onto his side and propped his head in a hand. Yes, he liked this face. But he loved the other one, and the girl it belonged to.

Hinata stirred when he changed position. She lay on her back, but her head was tilted to the right, facing toward him. Her lips were parted a bit, and the gentle rise and fall of her chest let him know that her sleep was sound and uninterrupted. His thoughts wandered around lazily as he watched her sleep. God, she looked so innocent when she was asleep.

So beautiful.

For ten minutes or so, he just lay there on his side, looking at her. Memorizing her, everything he could.

After a while, she showed the first few signs of awareness. She moaned in her sleep, and began moving her arms and legs around a few inches at a time. She opened her eyes slowly, gently greeting the morning. "Hey," Naruto said to her softly as she met his gaze.

"H...Hey," she yawned, her mouth opening wide. She stretched her arms up into the air, and extended her legs as far as possible to pointed toes. "Morning," she said as she relaxed. "What time is it?"

Naruto glanced at the wall, but found no clock there, or even on the desk near their bed. "Hmm..." he said. "The sun just rose a little bit ago... o maybe seven or so?"

Hinata groaned. "Oh, man... You mean, we've been asleep for... What? Sixteen hours now?"

Naruto laughed. "Yeah, that sounds about right, give or take," he said.

She sighed, and slumped deep into her pillow. "That's too long," she mumbled. "We should've been up before then."

Naruto smiled at her. "It's ok," he said. "We've had a rough time of it in the past few weeks. We deserve some extra sleep, right?"

Hinata sighed, but turned her head towards him. She smiled, a little bit sadly. "I... suppose so," she said. "But I'm worred, Naruto."

Naruto cringed; he really didn't feel like talking about their purpose at this house this early in the morning. "I know, I know," he said. "I'm worried too. But we can do this, I know we can!"

Hinata grabbed his hand into hers. "I know," she said. "That's not what I'm worried about, though." She rolled onto her side and draped her left arm across his chest. "I'm just... Worried. Anxious. I'm so afraid that this won't go well... That we'll fail. And it'll be because of me." She rested her cheek on his chest. "Tell me I'm just worrying too much and need to relax... Please?"

Naruto laughed softly and nuzzled her hair with his nose. "You're worrying too much and need to relax," he said. "There, you happy?"

"Mmm... Getting there," she said. She rubbed a hand on his stomach in slow circles. "Being with you, Naruto... That's all the happy I really need."

He laughed softly. "You're so corny sometimes, you know?"

They shared a good laugh; god, it felt so good to actually laugh without inhibition. The bed rocked with their convulsive mirth; Hinata actually wrapped her arm around Naruto's torso to keep from falling off of the bed.

Suddenly, a knock at the door brought them to their senses. "Hello?" a voice from the hall called in. "Are you two awake?"

Hinata looked at Naruto, the laughter dying down between them. "It's Kaoru," she said softly.

Naruto nodded. He swung his legs off of the bed, and Hinata followed suit. "Come on in," Hinata said.

The door opened, and Kaoru swept into the room with a tray of tea in one hand. Today's kimono was a subtle blue with floral patterns sewn in. "Good morning!" she said brightly. "I thought you might be awake-- I brought you some morning tea to help you get started on your day!"

Hinata smiled, stood up and gently took the tray from their host. "Thank you," she said. "It is very much appreciated, but you didn't have to do this on our account."

Kaoru smiled, then bowed. "It's not a problem," she said. "I really don't mind doing these kinds of things. It keeps me busy, anyway."

"Thanks, then," said Naruto. "Misao and I just woke up. Tea in the morning is very welcome."

Hinata poured a cup for all three of them. "This is really good, Kaoru!" Hinata said after a couple sips of the brew.

Kaoru smiled, and blushed slightly. "It's nothing,f really," she said modestly. "My mother taught me her technique... before she died."

Hinata set her cup down on the bedside table and took one of Kaoru's hands into hers. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "My mother... She died when I was very young. I don't remember ever knowing her... But I'm sure she was a good person, just like your mother surely was."

"I-- Thank you, Misao," Kaoru said with a blush. "It's not easy talking about my family, really. It's complicated. But thank you for your kind words."

"Any time," said Hinata. "Have you woken Tanaka-kun up yet?"

Kaoru shook her head. "Tanaka and his father and my father and his whole guard left for Kusagai for what's left of the festival over an hour ago."

Hinata glanced at Naruto. "It seems like we slept a bit too long," she said.

"Yahiko-san didn't want to bother you," Kaoru said. "He discussed it with Tanaka-san, and between them decided to stay, at least for a while. They went with my father to become better-acquainted with each other. So, for the next week or so, they'll all be gone."

"Hmm..." Naruto looked toward Hinata. "So basically, we have a week to relax, sleep all day, _not _walk twenty miles a day, eat good food, and enjoy your company?"

Kaoru chuckled at his list. "That sounds pretty much right!" she said.

"The catch would be?" Hinata asked.

"Well..." Kaoru poked her fore-fingers together. "If I go outside my home... Could you come with me? Be my bodyguards? I mean you're really strong and I'd feel safe with you two with me..."

Naruto smiled. "Don't worry!" he said. "With us, you'll never have anything to worry about! Right, Misao?"

"Right..." she said. "Seijuro's scary when he's mad... or hungry... so as long as you have him around you, everything should be all right..."

As if on cue, Naruto's stomach growled. "Uh... Yeah, about being hungry..." he said. "What's a guy gotta do to get some food around here?"

The older girl smiled. "Oh, don't worry about food," she said. "We have a full-time chef here working for us. He feeds everybody who works or stays here, and can make just about anything you want."

Naruto looked at Kaoru for a long moment with a blank expression. "...Anything?" he said after a pause.

"Um... Basically," she said. "Before he was here, he worked for another manor in Wind country, but used to be a ramen cook before that when he was younger..."

Fire lit in Naruto's eyes, and grasped Kaoru by the shoulders-- not violently, but firmly. "What's the fastest way to the kitchen?" he said intensely.

"Ga! Go down the hall and through the place we had the meeting yesterday, through the dining room! The door on the other side goes directly there!"

Naruto hugged her briefly. "Thank you!" he said giddily. "Appreciate it!" He slipped on his shoes and quickly kissed Hinata on the lips. "I'll see you later ok?" Before she could say something to stop him, he flew out of the door and disappeared down the hall.

Kaoru looked at Hinata in bewilderment. "What... What just happened?" she asked.

Hinata put her face in her hands and sighed. "Seijuro, you idiot," she mumbled. She looked to the other girl with a wry smile. "Let's just say that... He takes his ramen _very _seriously."

"Really?"

"Really."

Kaoru chuckled. "Well, we're in trouble, then," she said.

"Why?"

"Because... So does Gan-san."

"...We're in trouble."

* * *

The girls walked into one of the strangest scenes that they had ever seen: Naruto was running around the kitchen, grabbing supplies off of various shelves while a very tall and heavyset man shouted instructions at him. "Wheat flour! No, not that one, the other one! Five pounds of it should do!" He bellowed directions at Naruto with a deep baratone voice, with a light in his eyes that Naruto shared. "Salt! Get the sea salt, not the table. We want flavor, don't we?"

"Yes, Gan-sensei!" Naruto said with a laugh. "We do want flavor!"

"Seijuro!" Hinata said. "What the hell is going on?"

"Isn't it obvious?" he said as he walked to a preparation table that Gan, the chef, had set up. "We're making ramen! He's going to show me how to make it from scratch!"

Hinata moaned. "Oh, gods," she mumbled. "I can't believe this." She sighed and turned to Kaoru. "There really is no stopping them, is there?" she asked the girl.

"I... don't think so," Kaoru said. "Gan-san usually only gets this excited when we have a really big dinner to serve, and have to hire chefs to help with the cooking. But, like I said... He _really _likes his ramen."

"_Kansui!_" Gan said. "Where did I put the kansui? Boy, look over there," he said, vaguely waving his hands across the room.

"Ok!" he said with glee. After a moment of rummaging through some clay pots, he crowed in victory. "Got it!" he said, raising it over his head. Ink marked it with the character for "kansui".

"Good! Bring it!" he said, waving his arms energetically. "We mix now!"

"Um, Gan?" Kaoru said. "Gan-san?"

"Yes?" he said, half-listening. "What is it?"

"Do you already have today's breakfast done?" she asked. "Ramen for breakfast isn't what I'm in the mood for..."

"Yes, yes, of course I do!" he said. "You know I always get everything done before I have fun with my kitchen!"

Kaoru chuckled. "I know, Gan-san," she said. "You always are the best." She ran to him, jumped on his back, and gave him a kiss on his cheek.

"Aww... Go now!" he said, a blush beginning to creep onto his cheeks. "Food is in the warmer! Go! Shoo!"

Kaoru and Hinata giggled as they stepped toward the appliance that kept food warm. Kaoru opened it to reveal several identical trays, each one layed out with steamed rice, grilled fish, miso soup, and tamagoyaki. "It looks delicious!" Hinata said.

Kaoru smiled as she handed a tray to her new friend. "Just wait till you eat it," she said. "Gan-san really is good at what he does, and has been with us for almost ten years now."

"You really like him, don't you?" Hinata asked as she followed Kaoru into the dining room, hot tray balanced deftly in one hand. They set their loads down and sat across from each other.

"He's... almost like a father to me," Kaoru said after a short pause. "It's easier to talk to him than my own father." There was obvious sadness in her voice as she spoke. She smiled a little bit at Hinata-- no, not a smile, a pained smirk. "That's pretty pathetic, isn't it?"

"No!" Hinata said. "That's not pathetic at all!" She planted her palms on the table and leaned forward toward Kaoru, startling the poor girl. "Pathetic is fainting at the littlest thing! Pathetic is having to rely on other people to keep you going, never working on your own. You aren't pathetic! You're strong!"

Kaoru hung her head. "How... how do you... how can you say that with such conviction?" she said.

"Because I used to think so little of myself, too!" Hinata grasped Kaoru's hands inside her own. "For the longest time, I felt that I was worthless, that I was less than nothing. But Seijuro has turned my life around, since the moment we came together. Without him... I don't know where I'd be!"

"But he's your-- your boyfriend!" Kaoru said. "Gan-san isn't like that! I-- I mean..."

Hinata squeezed Kaoru's hands reassuringly. "He wasn't always my boyfriend," she said. "That didn't really happen until a few months ago. But for the past few years, he's always been the one to be there for me when I needed someone. Do you feel safe when you're with Gan-san?"

Kaoru blushed. "I-- Yeah, I do. I feel like nothing can go wrong when he's there with me. Does that make sense?"

"It does," Hinata said. "That's what I love about Seijuro; he makes everything perfect for me." She used her chopsticks to dip some rice into her miso soup and delicately ate it. Her eyes widened in surprise. "Wow! I can tell why you like Gan-san so much! This is delicious!"

"Hehe, I know!" Kaoru said. Her disposition had totally changed in the space of a few seconds. "He really is one of a kind. Eat! It'll get cold!"

Hinata grinned. "You don't have to tell me twice," she said. "And we eat like this every day?"

"Oh, no, of course not," Kaoru said. "This is just breakfast... Wait until tonight, _then _you'll see why Gan-san is known as the 'Sharpest Edge.'"

"I... I think my stomach just did a prayer of thanks to the gods," Hinata said. Without another word, she set to her meal, along with Kaoru, in companionable silence.

………………………

Hinata was lying on the bed in her room in fresh clothing when Naruto entered after eating his own breakfast. "Oh, man," he said gleefully. "I don't think I've _ever_ had that much fun in my life before!"

Hinata cocked an eyebrow at her lover. "Never?" she asked as she put a hand on her hip. "I think I just _might_ be offended."

Naruto smiled apolagetically. "Well... _Almost_ never," he amended. "Seriously, though, I never knew cooking could be so much fun! When we get back home, I have got to put the kitchen at the ANBU place to work."

Hinata laughed lightly. "I'm glad you had fun, Naruto," she said. "But we're going into town soon, so hop into the shower. We leave in about twenty minutes, so hurry up, ok?"

Naruto sighed, but smiled. "Ok, ok," he said. "What're we going in for?"

"We're going shopping," Hinata said. "Kaoru and I got to talking, and we decided that we need some new clothes. We only have three sets apiece-- we need some more things to wear besides what we have."

"Hmm... Good point," Naruto said. "I have been getting tired of these rags. Please don't tell me we're just buying kimonos, though!"

"No, no," Hinata said with a laugh. "I don't think so, anyway. We'll get an advance on our allowance here, and see what we need. Now scoot! Shower! Now! _Hurry_!"

Naruto smiled. "If you say so," he said as he unbuckled his pants in front of her and dropped them to the floor.

"W-what are you doing?" Hinata said.

"I'm just getting undressed," Naruto said. "You don't expect me to take a shower with my _clothes_ on, do you?"

Hinata sighed, and closed her eyes. "Naruto..." She looked up at him with a smile. "Brace yourself, my dear."

Surprise came to Naruto's eyes. "Wait! What--"

Hinata held a palm up at Naruto. A small and extremely focused shockwave of chakra hit him in the chest, sending him ass-over-end into the bathroom. The impact was minimal, barely enough to send him four or five feet, but it made him dazed enough to knock him loopy. "Take a shower, Naruto," she said. "Be at the front door in twenty minutes." She shut the door before Naruto could come to his senses.

**Well done, child**, Aoiryu said after a moment. **It is important to control your mate occasionally, especially when they act like imbeciles.**

_He-- He's not my mate!_ Hinata said in protest.

Aoiryu chuckled. **Oh, really? Tell me, young one... What did the two of you do the other night at the inn?**

Hinata blushed as she gathered her supplies. _We had..._

**You** **_mated_**, Aoiryu said emphatically. **It was not an act of pure physical pleasure for either of you. You each invested a great deal of emotional energy into each other in the act of love. You dedicated yourselves to each other. That, my dear, is mating.**

_But it's not like we're married or anything!_ Hinata said hastily.

**Do you truely believe that the closest bonds can only be created at marriage?** Aoiryu asked. **I felt the love you have for your young man. That is so rare in this world, you would not believe me if I told you. Cherish him, to be sure. Support him.** Hinata could feel Aoiryu grin. **Just do not go _too_ easy on him.**

_No,_ Hinata said with a small smile as she left her room. _I don't think that I will._

…………………………

"Huff... Huff... Someone please... tell me... why am I carrying _all of this?!_" Naruto asked the girls as he trailed behind them on the road back to the manor.

Hinata looked over her shoulder with a smile. "It's because you're so _big_ and _strong_, honey," she said. "How can you expect us delicate flowers to haul those back for us?"

Naruto stopped dead in his tracks as the girls kept moving, giggling to themselves. "Bull... Freakin... Shit," he mumbled to himself as he trudged along behind them. His load consisted of two or three bags in each hand, one on each shoulder, one in the crook of his elbows, and two around his neck. Each bag was stuffed to the brim with shirts, pants, dresses, skirts, shoes, kimonos, or other accessories. Two bags belonged to him. The rest were Hinata's.

_How is this fair?!_ he shouted to himself. _I'm a ninja, not a delivery boy!_

Naruto heard Sando chuckle in his mind. **That's what love is all about, **the dog said. **Grinning and bearing it.**

_Oh, shut up, _Naruto mumbled internally.

**Hey, I've been there before! **Sando said. **The things I did for my bitch, you wouldn't believe!**

Naruto sighed and shook his head. _I'll bet, _he said, _she had you whipped._

**Heh… Only when things got _really _kinky, **said the dog, making Naruto blush.

"Seijuro!" Hinata said over her shoulder. "Quit lagging behind! Hurry up, or we'll leave you behind!" She and Kaoru shared another laugh at his expense.

Naruto growled as he picked up the pace. _Women, _he thought. _Can't live with them… but don't wanna live without them._

A/N: There it is! As always, read and review, good or bad! Everything helps! Later, peeps.


	13. Hot Love

A/N: Here it is, chapter 12! I can't believe I did it this quickly, but then again, it's pretty short for my standards. I coulda made it longer, but I wanted it to end naturally, didn't want to press it.

This is the lemon that I've promised you, by the way! It may not be as good as others, but this really isn't a story I want known for the sex, so I'm not beating myself up too much about it.

That being said, I hope it really did come out ok.

Review response time!

**Dragon Man 180: All that will be shown next chapter or so.**

**narutos vixen: Just wait a month or so and I'll answer your questions... patience, please!**

**Silver Warrior: Last chapter was hard to write, for some reason. I promise I'll do better next time.**

**Muninn the Black: hahaha! Looking back on it, it does, doesn't it?**

**MuSiC HaTs: :-) I guess I am that good! They're 13 now... So, yeah, if lemons like that bother you, _any _of you, stop reading now. Seriously.**

Well, that's it! Hope you all enjoy the story!

Chapter 13

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Later that evening, after Hinata (with Naruto's protesting help) had put all of their clothes away and had eaten dinner with Kaoru, they found themselves laying together chastely in bed. Hinata lay leaning on Naruto's chest with his arms around her, both deeply relaxed. Neither spoke, or moved much at all, just enjoying each other's presence as they thought to themselves.

They had dropped their masked faces; in the silence of their part of the house, they would be able to hear anyone coming down the very easily. Naruto marveled that Hinata's personal scent changed every time she put the mask on. He inhaled her essence, reveling in it. Her hair was getting long, much longer than it had been at the academy. It was growing fast, too; by now, it was almost all the way down her neck. She'd trimmed the tassels that she tended to have longer than the rest of her hair shortly before the start of their kenjutsu training, making it all uniform in length.

Naruto's, on the other hand, was getting shaggier and shaggier. It grew up naturally, but became a matted mess after about an inch and a half. Hinata often ran her fingers through it when they were along, caressing the thick locks tenderly. She jokingly offered to braid it for him; the look on his face still brought a smile to her lips on occasion.

"You need a bath," she said to him after a while. "That's our new rule. Every night, you take a bath or a shower."

Naruto laughed softly into her hair. "I can live with that," he said. "After a day like today… Carrying that load all the way back here for you… I wouldn't mind a good scrub."

Hinata giggled. "Hey, Naruto… I've got an idea."

"Oh?" he said. "What?"

Hinata tilted her head until her lips were bare inches from his ear. In a whisper, she said, "How about you and I… take a look at those hot springs Kaoru mentioned, just you and me?"

Naruto's heart began to beat more quickly than before. He could never keep himself under control when she was so close to him. "That sounds like a good idea," he whispered back to her. "A _very _good idea."

Hinata sat up slowly, leaving her lover's embrace. "I thought you'd like it," she said with a wry smile. She stood up and slowly sauntered to the closet and grabbed something out of it and tossed it to Naruto. It was a white yukata with pale yellow sunflowers prints that seemed to complement his hair. Hinata, of course, had picked it out for him. "Here, take this, and grab some towels," she said. "I'll get the soap if you can get the rest. Deal?"

Naruto closed his eyes and smiled contentedly. "Anything you say," he said. "As you wish." He collected what he needed and bundled them up inside of his yukata, while Hinata grabbed the toiletries.

"Keep quiet," Hinata said softly as she opened the door and turned off the lights. "Let's keep this between you and me, ok?"

Naruto nodded in the dark. He then realized how idiotic that was, and whispered to her, "Ok."

"Follow me," she said as she slipped out the door. He did as she said, shutting it quietly behind him. They softly padded their way down the hall to the entrance to the informal dining room. They entered, closed the door, and made their way through into the kitchen and out the back door. From there, in the clear starry light, they could make out the path through the tree line that lead to the reported hot springs at the back of the property. They swiftly made a beeline for the path, and under cover of darkness entered the woods.

The tall trees blocked out most of the light from the sky, but Naruto's heightened senses allowed him to easily navigate the trees while running. Hinata's Byakugan had activated, it's modified form shining faintly in the darkness. Together, they nimbly made their way through the trees without so much as a brush against a fern until they got to a small fork in the path. Hinata stopped, with Naruto right behind her. "Which way?" Naruto asked, not at all out of breath.

Hinata looked to the right. "There are two hot springs down that way," she said, "each about the same size. One is sixty yards down, the other is perhaps thirty beyond that. Down _that _way," she said, indicating the other trail, "after about two hundred yards, is a spring that's bigger than the other two combined."

"Hmm…" said Naruto. "Which will it be?"

Even in the darkness, Naruto could see the slightly lewd smile on her lips as she turned her head toward him. "The big one, of course," she said with a little purr. "What did you think?"

She took off down the left-side path in a blur of motion, leaving Naruto in the literal and figurative dust. _Man, I love that woman! _he thought as he chased after her at top speed.

It took only seconds for the two to reach their destination. The faint moonlight shone in the clearing of trees to highlight the hot spring before them. It was a large pool, much larger than any Naruto had been to before, stretching almost thirty yards or so in a crescent-moon shape. Steam wafted gently off of the surface of the water into the warm night air. Around the semi-circle curve on the other side of the pool, large boulders were arranged against the shore to afford some privacy for bathers, with only the grounds going to the pool itself exposed to the woods. Steps had been carved into the rock to make getting in and out of the pool less of a hazard.

"It's… beautiful," Naruto said softly.

Hinata smiled in the dim light. "Yeah, it is," she said. She walked to the edge of the water and let a few fingers trail in a circle in it. "It's really warm, too," she said. She straightened up and returned to Naruto. "So…" she said as she looked into his eyes. "Ready to hop in?"

Naruto cupped a cheek with his palm. "I was born ready," he replied.

Hinata turned from him and set her items on the grass. "Well… Get undressed," she said. "It's just the two of us here, right? No need to be shy." She crossed her arms to pull up her shirt over her head, when all of a sudden Naruto put his hands on her shoulder.

"No… Let me do that," he whispered, his mouth so close to her ear his breath gave her goose bumps. He wrapped his arms around her torso and gently laced his fingers with her. He pressed her body gently against his, nuzzling his nose into her hair. He then slipped his hands slowly under the hem of her shirt, enjoying the smoothness of her skin in his caress. Hinata slowly lifted her arms to the heavens as Naruto peeled the shirt up, up, up and over her head, bunching the fabric in his hands until it enclosed her head. Her hair slipped past it, through the neck of the shirt, until it fell out in waves as the last restraints were gone. Naruto gasped softly to himself as he stepped back just a step... _only_ a step.

Hinata's hair fell to just before her shoulder blades. In the faint moonlight, Hinata's alabaster skin shone as if it had a glow from within. No matter what, Naruto knew that he would always remember this moment for as long as he lived. Her white cotton bra strap cut a line across her back, but that only seemed to accentuate her pure beauty.

Hinata stepped away from him and, with a coy look over her shoulder, said, "Well? Are you just going to stand there?" She smiled radiantly. "I thought we were here to take a bath." She sauntered slowly as she stepped toward the pool as she reached behind her back and unsnapped her bra which gracefully fell to the ground behind her. Naruto could not help but be mesmerized as she slipped her pants off, quickly followed by her panties. She stepped into the water daintily, slowly submerging her foot in inch by steaming inch.

Naruto snapped out of the trance that Hinata's seductive display had put him in. "Y-yeah, I'm coming!" he said. He ripped off his shirt as he walked quickly to the edge of the pool and discarded the rest of his clothing with much less grace than she had. In a flash they were in a rumpled pile at his feet and he was at the edge of the steaming spring.

With a cautious step he plunged his foot into the water. It was hot, but no hotter than the onsen at the ANBU headquarters. His foot his the cut-stone step, and he slowly but surely continued into it until he was chest-deep in the heat.

Hinata stood just a few feet away from him. She moaned in pleasure as the water worked its way over her, relaxing her muscles. "Mmm..." she said softly with her eyes closed as she gently bobbed up and down as she moved side to side. "This is heaven..." She spread her arms to the side and cast herself off, legs breaking surface as she floated casually and slowly away from Naruto.

A small part of Naruto was a bit disappointed that she didn't want to immediately get into the mood of things, but he brushed that aside. _Onsen are for relaxing, _he thought as he followed suit and began drifting around in the hot water. _And she's right--this _is _heaven. _Water lapped his face as he slowly stroked it to move himself across the spacious hot spring.

For a few minutes... Or was it hours? Naruto couldn't tell. But for a time, they floated in peace in the steaming atmosphere, soaking in the heat. Eventually, Hinata and Naruto came side-by-side facing opposite ways. Naruto gently grabbed her hand, and she clutched onto his. They lazily spun in circles around each other for a while, silently and contentedly.

Naruto looked right at Hinata, and couldn't help but see her pert breasts poking above the water just inches from her chin. What's more, he could see the cleft between her legs, albeit shadowed by dark water.

He felt stirrings in his loins; quickly, he had another appendage poking out of the surface. Hinata spotted his member sticking in the air. She smiled wryly at him and said, "See anything you like?"

Naruto laughed and let go of her hand. He shifted his weight and put his feet on the onsen floor, then drew Hinata into his arms in a cradle. He gently kissed her while slowly massaging her ass. She moaned under his ministrations for a moment, until he pulled away. "Does that answer your question?" he said huskily.

She didn't answer; she reached behind Naruto's head and pulled him in for another kiss, this one full of more passion and fire than the one before. Their lips seemed to connect for years as their tongues invaded each other's mouths and rolled over each other in a contest that neither could win and neither could lose.

She laced her fingers behind his head and pulled herself upright, wrapping her legs around his waist, smashing her breasts against his chest. Naruto cupped her cheeks to support her weight; he wasn't going to complain.

She further renewed her assault on his mouth, turning up the fervor as she orally assaulted him. By now, Naruto was fully aroused by her. Every vein and artery was pulsing as his heart beat a million times a minute with her so intimately close to him. Her pussy rubbed against his pelvis as she began subconsciously grinding against him. The steaming water added a new level of eroticism to the encounter that neither had thought possible; in mere moments, both of them had become sex-craved maniacs.

Naruto broke off the kiss to heft her higher until her breasts were level with his face. Without ado, he latched his mouth on her left nipple, gently mauling it with his lips at first, sucking on it, pressing it with his tongue while she gasped with the sensations he provided her. He left it to swirl his tongue around her areola, the sweet red ring around the tender button he loved. He sucked on her breast for just a bit, just long enough to enjoy the sensation, then let his tongue fly back to her nipple and flick it over and over.

He quickly moved to her other breast, giving it the same love and attention that the previous had, all the while basking in the sounds that his lover made as he worked over her. "N-Naruto," Hinata gasped as he gently bit on her nipple. "I-I... This..." Whatever she was going to say was drowned in a moan of pleasure as Naruto relentlessly worked on her breasts.

"Naruto," she gasped after a moment. "Naruto, I can't wait any longer," she said. "Please...?"

Naruto detached his lips from her bud and slowly lowered her down, her body sliding against his in an agonizingly warm grind. He kissed her again, then looked into her eyes. "We aren't even done getting warmed up," he said huskily to her, his lips so close to hers. He slowly walked to the edge of the spring. "Before any strenuous exercise... it's important to limber up." The lip of the pool was only about a foot and a half above the surface of the water. He gently pulled her up again and set her on the edge of the stone border. Her head was only a few inches above his. He gently guided her head down to his for a brief kiss. "The party... is just beginning."

Hinata smirked. Naruto was mesmerized as the water on her body dripped from her hair... ran rivulets down her abdomen... plipped steadily from her chest. "What comes next?" she asked him in a low voice.

Naruto nuzzled her neck and hummed for a moment. "Round two." He placed one hand between her shoulder blades and the other on her chest, reclining her back on the stone while he gently massaged a breast. When she was propped on her elbows, looking at him over her breasts with a quizzical look in her eye, as if asking him what the hell he was doing. He threw a cocky smile at her. "Just relax," he said. "I know what I'm doing." He leaned forward and kissed her neck, running his lips down her chest, her breasts, down her belly, sending shivers down her spine. Suddenly she knew exactly what he was doing, and felt her heart beat double-time.

Suddenly, he was at the cleft of her legs, his hot breath pouring onto her womnhood like a blast of hot air. Stirrings that had been there since she'd gotten into the pool graduated into full-blown tremors as his mouth moved ever so close to her pussy.

Naruto gently rubbed the skin above the nether lips with his nose, teasing her downy tufts side to side. Her aroma was amazing: musky and heavy and so tantelizingly thick that he could hardly believe it was natural. Slowly, teasingly, he extended his tongue just enough to lap at the outer edges of her nether lips. Hinata moaned softly as his moist tongue made contact with her, making her squirm slightly under his ministrations. Fueled by her obvious satisfation with his actions, he upped the ante, becoming more explorator with his tongue as he lightly trailed her soft pink slit, up, then down, absorbing her scent and taste with each pass.

He felt her quiver under him. "Ohhh..." Hinata moaned as she arched her back slightly. "This feels..." Whatever she was going to say was lost to the wind as she gasped in sensory overload when Naruto fully plunged his tongue into her pussy, pulling it out only to push it right back in, invading her nether parts. Hinata almost squirmed away from his mouth, so he wrapped an arm under each thigh and laced his fingers on her belly to keep her still while he ate her out. Water splashed as he moved to get into a better position; when he began licking her pussy again, it was with redoubled effort. After only a few moments filled with the panting and moaning of his lover, he felt her quiver; seconds later, she arched her back, pressing her pussy against his waiting mouth, and ejected her pussy fluids in what must have been an extremely satisfactory orgasm on her part.

Naruto slumped into the water, breathing heavily as Hinata recovered from her own exertion. That was... He never even thought of doing something like that before tonight. He didn't know what came over him; it was like he just _knew _what to do, when to do it, how long... Like it was instinct or something.

With a flash, he realized what had happened-- he had somehow unconsciously tapped into some of his father's memories when he and Hinata became intimate. In a blur, a thousand images swam through his mind: though hard to process in just a few seconds, he was able to pick out a few, though they came from the eyes of a third-person viewpoint. Here was a shock of short red hair; there was a blur of a round ass with freckles dusted about it. Another one of a neck, his nose nestled in it as he took the woman from behind while both of them were on their knees, supporting each other's weight--

_OH MY GOD! _Naruto thought with horror. _That's my dad... and _mom!

Naruto began panting heavily. When he and Sando had met, the demon had warned him to stay away from some of his father's memories... Did the dog do this on purpose?! He made a note to bring it up with the Inugami when they next talked...

"N-Naruto?" Hinata panted as she sat up on the stone ground. "Are you ok?"

Naruto realized that he had been slumped in the water, with only his head and shoulders above surface. He stood, steam rising off him in waves. "Yeah, I'm fine, love," he said as he closed in on her and kissed her softly. "Better than fine," he added when they broke apart. "With you with me... Everthing is perfect."

Hinata smiled as she slipped into the water to stand before Naruto. She embraced him, tightly, flattening her chest to his, pressing his cock vertically between his and her belly. "With you with me... Everything is perfect," she echoed quietly as they held each other in their arms.

Naruto bent his head down to rub his cheek against hers. "We can make it even more perfect," he said in her ear.

She looked at Naruto with a sultry smile. "How are you gonna pull _that _off?" she asked her lover.

Instantly, Naruto knew what to do. He reached down behind Hinata and grabbed her by her ass, pullin her up into his arms with a complimentary yelp from her. She laughed as she wrapped her legs around his waist for the second time that night, water dripping off of her body steadily. Naruto turned around until his back was against the stone wall. He leaned back against it, careful not to crush Hinata's legs between the two, and slowly lowered Hinata until his dick was gently pressing against her pussy.

Hinata got the picture, and with an understanding smile shifted her abdomin to accomidate the intrusion. Slowly, so slowly, Naruto plunged himself into Hinata, inch by inch invading her most private of secrets. "Oh! Oh, my... Nnngh," she groaned as he went to his base, firmly rooted inside of her.

"_Huff..._ Oh, god," Naruto panted. Hinata's hot internal warmth was squeezing on his cock, pressing against it from all sides like a living vice. "Hinata... Damn, Hinata, I don't know how long I can last with this!"

Hinata savagely kissed Naruto. "Not too soon, baby," she said. "I want to come at least one more time before we're through."

Without another word, Naruto pulled out from Hinata, inch by inch, slowly retracting his member... Then slammed it into her again, almost violently. Hinata gasped aloud with pure animalistic pleasure as she felt her void refilled, again, then again in a seemingly-endless cycle of will. It was somewhat awkward from that position to keep up the action, but for Hinata, Naruto would do anything.

Anthing.

She was approaching climax, Naruto could feel it, even after just a short time such as this. He sped up his tempo, churning the water in his accelerated pace. "Oh, oh, god, _NARUTO!_" she screamed after a few more moments. She came, hard, her pussy clenching on his cock even as he thrusted in and out.

This was too much for him; he had been on the edge of orgasm since he began orally pleasuring her. With one final thrust into her, he arched backwards, almost losing his grip on her as he spurted his thick semen in her vaginal walls. "_HINATAAAA!!" _he yelled as he emptied his balls into her.

Hinata slipped off of his still-rigid cock and slumped down into the water, the post-sex afterglow shining from her face. Naruto could just make out from the murky water trails of his fluids coming out of her pussy as she moved. "Oh, god, Naruto," she murmured. "That was..."

Naruto gently drew her to him and kissed her with soft passion. "I know," he said softly as they broke apart. "I know." Their love-making was short and quick, but none less real for what it was, and sweeter than anthing on earth.

They had true happiness together, unbreakable as the strongest iron.

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The rest of that week, they loved each other many times, in a few different places, anticipating the end of this horrible situation they were forced into. But the two of them were strong together. Unbendable.

They could take on the world.

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A/N: Well, I hope you enjoyed this! This was my first real attempt at writing a lemon... I hope it came out all right. Thanks for reading!

As always, read and review!


	14. Conflict Resolution?

A/N: Well, it's been a while. Sorry to keep you chaps waiting. I've been at school at San Francisco for over two months now, and I swear, I've been having too much fun here to actually be able to sit down and write. Come on, I've had an entire city to explore! Give me a break!

As some of you might have remembered, I'm a culinary student. I'm learning to be a chef, eventually. That takes a lot of energy, and I'm working all the time. Looking for a job right now. Anyone in the Bay Area hiring?

Not too much to say right now. Hoping I'll be able to hop onto the horse again soon. Wish me luck, peeps.

Gonna get right on the next chapter, after I catch up on some of my webcomics. I haven't read Dominic Deegan, Misfile, Unshelved, Penny Arcade, Ctl Alt Del, or any of my awesome internet fixes since January. Here's to digital overdose, folks.

Time to answer reviews.

**HeartBound 101: I do try to draw my readers into the story. Someone said I over-describe things sometimes... Yeah, I'm guilty of that. But my imagination takes over my fingers. I need to buy a better filter for my brain.**

**Evilshroom: Glad you liked the smut, dude. Please try not to hit me with too much backlash this time. I have limited time on the net when I can really get the writing I want done. The San Francisco public library, as awesomely stocked with reading material as it is, only lets you online for an hour a day. Definetly not enough time to do what I gotta do. Any peeps in the Bay Area, by the way?**

**Alehhandro: Thanks for reading. The lemon really was one of the hardest parts of the entire story. Probably gonna do another one next chapter. I decided to portray Sarutobi as a darker figure for the sake of suspense and plot development, as well as setting the groundwork for some important scenes in later chapters. Keep your eyes open.**

**Ren Mizuki: I really didn't want him to be a dork :-) Did my best. I'm pretty good with the soppy stuff.**

**Ookami88: Longest review I have ever gotten from a fan. No doubt. Trust me, I did everything for a reason. I wouldn't put Hinata in harm's way like that... Just read the story, and you'll see what I'm talking about. The little Hyuuga can be very scary. I'll admit, I was going to run the story a little bit differently... But once the chapters were out there, it hit me like a ton of bricks: I have a little sister that my family adopted who's about the same age of the main characters of the story. Long before then, however, I thought pedophiles were the scum of the universe. Castrate them all, I say. You aren't wrong in anything you say, not at all. E-mail me at for further talks, if you would like.**

Ok, that's about if for my author's notes. I'm on a friend's computer right now, and he's standing right behind me. A six foot two, three hundred pound football player who is in culinary school with me. Please don't hurt me, Mark, ok?

Read on, internet soldiers!

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**Chapter 14**

The week passed by both slowly and quickly for Naruto and Hinata as they spent their time at the Nagasaki household-- slow, in that each and every single second was with the full awareness that their mission would soon be at an end, but quickly that they spent almost all of their time together, and it still didn't seem to be enough.

For the few days they had together, they spent their time mostly with Kaoru and Gan, often in the kitchen. There they exchanged stories, mostly made up on the part of the two young shinobi, but with a few kernels of truth thrown into the mix. Gan instructed Naruto in some of the finer points of cooking, especially with ramen, while Hinata and Kaoru had their girl time together.

On Hinata's part, this was something like a dream come true: never before had she really had another girl of her age be perfectly willing to spend time with her. Kaoru was a genuinely kind and caring girl, almost doting on her, in fact. She gave Hinata several sets of clothes that she'd outgrown, on top of what she'd bought from their shopping trip. Thus, every day Hinata herself looked amazing, dressed in the finest coverings a lord's money could buy.

When they weren't occupied with their hosts, however, or undergoing other... _activities..._ they were usually in meditation, conversing with their masks' spirits in what proved to be a grueling mental tutorial. For the most part, Naruto spent his time in the library that Sando had conjured for him, absorbing jutsu after jutsu from the veritable catalog that his father and _his _own predecessor had possessed. Strangely, though, Sando wouldn't let him know who the first bearer of the Inugami mask was. It was a puzzle that he was determined to piece together, eventually, but had decided to let it go for the moment, satisfied with the awesome knowledge that he was soaking in like a sponge every night. Technique after technique, skill after skill… He was at last truly beginning to respect what a great advantage the mask was.

It seemed like infinite knowledge was at his fingertips every time he grasped a book off of the shelves in his mindscape. He had barely the need to flip the tome open before its information was imparted into him with seeming finality.

Hinata had told him that she'd too been spending time with her spirit, Aoiryu, although she had had more one-on-one time with her than he'd with Sando. It still seemed that the great dog was weak to the point that he could barely be accessed or aware for more than an hour at a time any given day. Reason being, it had been over twelve years since he'd absorbed any elemental energy, the greatest source of his strength. He said that he _would _take some of Naruto's chakra, but it was still too intertwined with Kyuubi's to be of any use to him. When Naruto was able to use the dog's signature ability to soak in elemental affinities of his enemies, he would undoubtedly become as strong as he was in his prime. Until then… he was on his own, so to speak.

The days passed like this, but on the forth day after Kakashi, Sasuke, and the members of the house had left for the festival, a chill seemed to befall the residents therein. Where for a few brief days they could all forget their problems, however temporarily, the knowledge that the Nagasaki, Kakashi, and the rest would return sometime that day snuffed their good cheer.

Though Hinata seemed to be putting on a good front, he could sense her inner turmoil. Today, the man she was supposed to kill was coming back to his home.

Naruto found her that afternoon when he walked into the room that they shared. She was sitting on the bed, slumped forward, with her hands over her mouth. A thin line of sweat brushed her brow. She seemed to have temporarily reverted to her prior personality, from before she had joined him and Sasuke as the Sanseirei.

Naruto went to her side, knelt down beside her, and took her hands gently into his. "Hinata?" he said softly. "Are you ok?"

Her lips quivered slightly. "I—I don't know, Naruto," she mumbled. "I-I just…" She closed her eyes, took a deep breath. "It's like I can feel him coming back already. I just feel him, every step he takes. I know he's supposed to be here today, t-this is his home… but I just can't help feel that I can't do this. I-I'm still not strong enough to just kill s-someone like that." A sob escaped her lips. "I don't want to do t-this, I don't want to hurt anyone, not ever! This isn't fair!"

Compassion filled the young man. He wrapped his arms around her belly and back and held her close to him, her heart beating in his ear. She put her arms around his head, pulling him to her as he was. He could almost literally feel the turmoil inside of her conscience as the morbid reality of their situation rolled over her. "It's not fair," he murmured. "None of this is. We didn't ask for all of this responsibility. It was _put _on us. Sometimes I wish we could just go back in time and forget all of this ever happened. Sometimes I just want to leave and go home…wherever that might be. But I can't. I have a job to do, and that's to protect you while you do your job." He withdrew a few inches and looked up at her tear-stained eyes. "I keep asking, and you keep telling me no… but I'll ask again. Do you want me to take your side of the mission? Finish off Nagasaki?"

"I-I don't know," Hinata said. "I just don't know anything anymore. The longer it takes, the more time I have to think, the more time I have to take it back, the more scared I get with this whole thing!"

Hysteria seemed to be creeping into her voice. He had to stop it before it got out of control. "Calm down," he said, authority heavy in his voice. "Calm down, breathe, relax. Stop thinking, stop talking for a moment." He dropped his voice to just barely above a whisper. "Breathe… inhale… exhale." He repeated the mantra a few more times until Hinata calmed down. Though still visibly shaken, she had returned more to normal.

"Are you ok?" he asked as he got up from the floor and sat next to her on the bed, draping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her gently into him.

"I'm a little… better," she said. "Thanks, Naruto. Sometimes I still fall into this depression that just takes over." She bit her lip and looked down at the floor. "I hate it, every moment of it. Knowing that I'll have to kill someone who won't be seeing it coming. If it were a full fight, I think I could do it. But assassination?" She exhaled in a huff. "It will be tough."

"I know," said Naruto as he squeezed Hinata's shoulder gently. "In a few days, once us and Kakashi figure out the plan, we'll be on our way out of here and back home just a few days after that. Imagine, inside of a week and we'll be safe and sound."

She looked up at Naruto with a small smile. "I like the sound of that," she said. "Speaking of which… I might as well try to see if they're on their way here yet." She closed her eyes, then with a flash of brilliant light the Byakugan activated. She paused, then a kind of cold analysis came through. "Kakashi, Sasuke, and the others are just over a mile away. They are arriving from the east."

Naruto sensed something was wrong. "And?" he gently prompted.

She fell silent for a moment, as if contemplating something important. "When I activate the Byakugan," she said, "sometimes there's a kind of filter. I _see _through most things, but I rarely have the focus to look through clothes and see the skin underneath, as a matter of modesty."

"Wait—what?"

Hinata turned to Naruto with a fierce fury on her face. "Just now, I saw Kaoru getting out of the bath, but she hadn't yet gotten dressed. Have you noticed that she only wears long-sleeved kimonos, and nothing else?"

"I guess," Naruto said. "I never really paid any attention to that, to be honest."

Hinata deactivated her doujitsu. "When I saw Kaoru's arms," she said, "there were scars running up and down each one. Some were fresh, some were old. I'd guess the oldest to be about two years old. They're all short and shallow, not enough to kill… but they all look like they're self-inflicted. Naruto, she's cutting herself on an almost weekly basis!"

Terror filled Naruto's heart as he heard Hinata's words. "You don't think—"

Hinata nodded curtly. "Yes," she said. "This is just the confirmation that we've been needing. I'm going to go talk to her. Get the truth out of her." She stood up and strapped her sword across her back. "Start packing up everything we need. Might as well throw in some of the clothes we got as well. One way or another, we're leaving tonight."

"Hinata! Wait!" Naruto shouted, but it was useless. She was out the door and on the way to the other side of the building before he could recover his wits. "Shit!" he shouted. This was not the way the plan was supposed to go at all. He wanted to stop her, but with the pure righteous fury Hinata had, he knew there was no way he could stop her.

He hurriedly set about collecting all of their possessions he could and packed them into his and her packs. When he realized that it wouldn't all fit, he had a flash of inspiration: he took a brush, a bottle of ink, and a long piece of paper and quickly made a storage seal. After a few moments to let it dry, he wrapped all of the surplus in a bedsheet and activated the seal with a small surge of chakra; he put the sheet onto the seal, and with a small puff of smoke, it was gone, only the paper left on the floor.

He put the paper in his pocket, tied his sword onto his shoulder, and grabbed his bags on the way out of the door. He walked toward Kaoru's room, already dreading what he would find there.

He could hear the sobbing from ten feet out the door. When he entered, he saw Kaoru weeping heavily in Hinata's arms. She had an undershirt and a pair of panties on, but nothing else.

Naruto, for the first time, saw the extent of the damage Kaoru had suffered at her own hands: lines, pink and red and grey, crisscrossed everywhere between her shoulders and just inches above her wrists. Revulsion turned into horror, which quickly mutated into a seething rage. His pulse quickened as his anger reached a boiling point.

"Her father," Hinata said softly as the other girl sobbed almost violently on her shoulder, "rapes her. Almost weekly, although sometimes it happens more often, sometimes less. To make business deals, he sometimes trades he body for favors. _Favors._" A chill rose up Naruto's spine from her tone of voice even as he struggled to not vomit. "He will be here in ten minutes. Naruto, stay with her." She gently placed a hand on Kaoru's head. It glowed blue, and within seconds she was sleeping, slumped on Hinata's shoulder. "I can't help her," she said. "There's nothing I can do to undo the past. But… I can make sure that he never hurts her… or anyone… ever again."

Naruto wordlessly stepped aside as Hinata left the room. He shut the door behind her, and sat on the chair next to the sleeping girl. _This is all wrong, _he thought. _All of it. _He brushed the drying tears from the girl's eyes. _I'm so sorry, _he thought. _For all of it._

Time passed too slowly, much too slowly. The quiet of the house was eventually broken by the arrival of the incoming party, though. Naruto hid himself and his effects in Kaoru's closet, leaving just enough space open to see through.

Nagasaki opened the door just a moment after Naruto had concealed himself. He held his breath as Nagasaki took a half-step into the room and gazed upon her. His expression was blank, but Naruto could almost read his mind. He was _certain _he was thinking of the next time that he would be able to get his hands on his daughter. Rage boiled and writhed inside of Naruto's gut; this man deserved what was coming to him, as sickening as it was.

_No,_ he silently amended to himself._ He deserves a lot, lot more._

After a moment, the door closed as Nagasaki left. Naruto knew that his room was only a few feet down the hall on the other side. He didn't know how long it would take for Hinata to dispose of him, but he didn't think that she could restrain herself for long.

He silently counted the seconds to himself. When he got to sixty-eight, the door opened again, Hinata's profile evident. Naruto left the closet to greet her. "What is the status?" he asked her, almost rhetorically, knowing the most likely answer.

Her expression was cold as ice. "He is dead," she said. "I destroyed his heart with my Juuken. It resembles a heart attack closely enough to pass a casual autopsy. Our job here is done." Her eyes were still ablaze with the Byakugan. "Kakashi and Sasuke are in their rooms right now. The rest of the samurai are in their own rooms, or on patrol. Get them, and let's get out of here. This place sickens me."

Naruto was stunned at her sudden authoritative tone, but didn't hesitate to do as she asked. He hurried to relay her message to the remaining members of the team, first Sasuke, then Kakashi. Although they seemed surprised at the turn of events, they complied, repacking the few items that they had already taken out of their bags and wordlessly followed him back to Kaoru's room, where they met Hinata.

"So..." Kakashi said, his eyes cold and hard. "You did it."

Hinata met his gaze. "Yes," she said. "I'm sorry I jumped the schedule, but I didn't have a choice."

Kakashi nodded. "Understood. What is the easiest way to leave the compound?"

Hinata concentrated for a moment. "If we go out of the south entrance in two minutes," she said, "there will be a gap in the patrol that we can slip through. It will be tight, but we could get to the forest that has the hot springs without being seen."

"Good," said Kakashi. "We'll worry about everything else, later. I don't want to be questioned by the other staff if we can help it." He took off, his students closely behind him, to the southern portion of the estate. They slipped through the kitchen, relying on Hinata to keep them out of sight, and hunkered down next to the door that lead to the expansive lawn that separated them from the grove.

All eyes were on Hinata as her Byakugan focused on the outside. Seconds seemed to drag onto minutes, until she gave the signal. Quick as a flash, Kakashi opened the door, allowed the Sanseirei to exit, closed the door, and as one, bolted for the treeline.

They were there within seconds. When they were fifteen feet in, they stopped for a moment, dead silent. Something was wrong-- very wrong.

_Blood. _Naruto could smell it in the air. _Human _blood. He turned to Hinata. "What the hell is going on?" he asked her, his voice edgy. "Who's out there?"

She frowned. "I can't see anything," she mumbled. "Nobody is in the forest with us."

"Kakashi?" Sasuke said. "What the hell is going on? What could hide from the Byakugan?"

His face was in an expression they had never seen before: _panic._ "Run," he said. "Now. The other way we came."

"But--"

"I said _go _Naruto!" Kakashi snapped. "Don't question me!"

"Who is it, Kakashi-sensei?" Hinata asked.

A chuckle broke the tense silence of the grove. It came in softly, as if from a great distance, but gradually grew in both volume and malice. It seemed to come from all directions at once, and from _nowhere._ They looked around them, frantically craning their necks to find the source of the ominous sound. "Don't tell me you haven't figured it out yet, Kakashi-san," someone said from behind them.

Twenty feet away, lit by beams of afternoon light filtered through the leaves and branches overhead, stood Yamamoto. His short blond hair shone in the golden sun, highlighted by the black shirt and pants he wore. "I hadn't expected you to have acted as early as this, child," he said matter-of-factly. "That old bastard was just _begging _to die, but it seems that you just can't wait for the right moment, can you?"

Sweat beaded on Kakashi's brow. "Kids, get out of here!" he barked. "You can't fight him! That's an _order!_"

Yamamoto chuckled. "Oh, no no no," he said. "I don't think they can do _anything _right now. Why, just look at them!"

Kakashi turned to look at his students just behind him, and was shocked to see them on their knees, paralyzed in fear. "Stop it," Kakashi growled. "This is our fight. They don't have anything to do with your grudge against me."

Yamamoto smiled. "But I'm afraid that they do, young man," he said.

Naruto struggled to his feet, struggling to surpass the killing intent given off by Yamamoto. "Wha- what's he talking about, Kakashi-sensei?" he rasped.

Kakashi looked back quickly at his pupil. "I fought this man, once," he said. "It was an assassination mission to the Water country. Nine years ago, when I was still in the ANBU, I and my squad crossed swords with him." He closed his eyes while recalling the memory. "We were dead the moment he laid eyes on us. Before we could react, my entire squad was destroyed, just by one man. There was nothing I could do. I retreated, but he still managed to cut me with his blade from a great distance. I escaped with my life... Just barely."

Naruto was speechless. This man was strong enough to make his sensei run away without even confronting him first? "Is he really that dangerous?" Naruto asked.

"Yes," Kakashi growled. "Which is _why _I want you and the others to get outta here! GO!"

Naruto sighed. "I can't do that, Sensei," he said. "The old man would have my hide if I let you die on _my _watch. If we abandon you..." Naruto slowly drew his sword from over his shoulder and got into a battle stance. "We wouldn't be anything more than trash ourselves."

A flurry of memories hit Kakashi like a brick. He was certain that he had never told Naruto about that conversation with the boy's father all those years ago, and yet practically the same words were coming out of his mouth. Could the Yondaime's spirit still live on in his son?

"This is all _very _touching, very," said Yamamoto. "But I have things to do and people to kill. So if you don't mind, can we wrap this up?" He smile was twisted. "My sword is still thirsty, very thirsty."

"Thirsty?" Naruto asked, an edge in his voice.

Yamamoto laughed. "Yes, _thirsty. _Koukon Shikon hasn't had the blood of a jinchūriki in so, _so _long. Not since... Oh, it must have been when it slew the host of that tanuki, almost thirteen years ago. Poor kid didn't stand a chance, not at all." He licked his lips. "Tasted like... sand and a burning desert air."

Naruto blanched. This guy was strong enough to kill a jinchūriki? A bead of sweat formed on his brow. "Sensei..." he said, a quiver in his voice, "I think it's time to run, now."

Kakashi shook his head. "Not an option anymore, Naruto," he said. "He'd slaughter us from behind; the other two can't move at all. His killing intent is too huge. I'm surprised you can move at all. No, we fight for our lives." In a lower voice, he said, "If you get a chance, run with them when I distract him. I'm strong enough, I think, to hold him off for at least a few minutes. That's your job, Naruto. My life doesn't matter anymore." He steeled his gaze on their opponent. "My name is Hatake Kakashi," he said to Yamamoto. "As of this moment, I am dead. I fight to reclaim my life, and protect the lives of my comrades."

Yamamoto snorted. "Romantic poetry," he said as he raised his right arm and pointed his palm at Kakashi, "but worthless. Now DIE!"

A blur of red shot out of his palm, directed at Kakashi's head. Kakashi and Naruto dove out of the way in opposite directions, Hinata in Naruto's arms, Sasuke in Kakashi's. They deposited them behind the cover of trees to keep them safe, then attacked Yamamoto from opposite sides, left and right.

The red blur flew at Naruto; in a flash, he realized what it was: a large cleaver on a long, manipulated cable made of--

_Blood?!_

The cord originated from his palm, where a large gash connected the bloody cord to his soft tissue. He managed to backtrack swiftly, but the blade followed him, extremely quickly. He drew his sword in a flash and slashed diagonally, deflecting it when it was just inches from his belly. The blade wavered, then retracted back into Yamamoto's arm.

In the scant seconds his weapon had been occupied by Naruto, Yamamoto was dealing with Kakashi barehanded, deflecting kunai and shuriken with his bare hand, then effortlessly batting Kakashi away before he had a chance to get a blow in with his sword.

He did all of this without moving one inch from his spot.

"Shit!" shouted Naruto as he swiftly circled around behind Yamamoto. "Kakashi, cover me!"

Kakashi nodded and flung a brace of smoke bombs at Yamamoto's feet, which he looked upon with amusement and didn't even attempt to avoid. Naruto leapt into the air, directly over Yamamoto. "**Fūton: Daitoppa!" **Naruto shouted as he reached his apex. A monumental blast of air pressure released from Naruto's sealed hands, impacting directly onto the ground where Yamamoto had just been. As Naruto landed, he drew his sword and waited for the dust to settle.

Seconds passed... the dust cleared.

Yamamoto had survived without a scratch.

The man yawned dramatically. "Is that all?" he drawled. "Aren't you the jinchūriki of the Kyuubi? Show me what you got."

Naruto winced. Currently, the fox was sealed, and he wasn't coming out, not if he could help it. Before he could say anything, though, the ground under Yamamoto rumbled. To his apparent surprise, a pack of dogs, from tiny to huge, leapt out of the ground like missiles and clamped onto his arms, shoulders, legs, and waist. Yamamoto winced and hissed in pain as the dogs dug their teeth into his flesh. "Interesting summoning technique," he said through gritted teeth as he tried to shake off an enormous bulldog from his right forearm. "Most contracted beasts wouldn't let themselves be put into this sort of risk."

A high-pitched chirping sound came from behind Naruto, behind a cluster of trees. "I raised these hounds since they were pups," Kakashi said as he stepped out from the trees. His hand glowed with a white and blue light-- his infamous technique, the legendary Lightening Cutter, Raikiri. "They'd do anything for me, if I asked them to." He approached a couple steps toward Yamamoto. "You're getting sloppy, old man," he said. "I didn't think it'd be this easy to beat you. My children are safe, and you..." He focused his eyes on Yamamoto's. "...You are done."

He charged in a blur, the glowing hand held closely by his side. When he was barely four feet away, he thrust his hand, fingers first, at Yamamoto's chest and bellowed a mighty **_"RAIKIRI!!!"_**

As quick as a flash, the blood-made blade and cord blitzed out of one of the wounds on his shoulder and intercepted the attack, point to point. Kakashi was moving to fast to dodge or compensate; the impact dislocated his shoulder, jarring it out of joint with a sick pop. He flew off to the side and landed in some ferns, hitting his head on a tree as he skidded on the forest floor.

The dogs popped away, vanishing in a cloud of smoke as their connection to Kakashi was terminated. He smiled, just a little, and slowly turned his head to Naruto. "And then there was one," he said. "Well, boy... How do you like my sword?"

Naruto flinched. "That's no sword," he replied. "That's... it's just sick. It's not just your own blood, is it?"

Yamamoto laughed, louder, his voice reverberating amongst the trees. "Good nose!" he cried. "No, this is the blood of those useless idiots who worked with me, guarding poor Nagasaki." He frowned. "Except for Ishin," he said. "I couldn't find him. But the blood of those two more than suffice to fuel my fires."

"You BASTARD!" Naruto cried. "**_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_**_!" _Without another word, a hundred clones appeared and charged Yamamoto, most of which drew their swords. They came at him from all directions-- up, left, right, behind, but the blade and cord sprouting from Yamamoto's chest cut a whirlwind of destruction, slicing each and every clone before they could even get close.

"Come on!" Yamamoto cried, a laugh on his lips. "Give me everything you've got! Show me the value of your blood!"

"_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" _Naruto cried again, his fingers in the cross shape. This time, only ten clones appeared around Naruto, who once again charged the monster.

"Not _this _again!" laughed Yamamoto as he easily cut them all down. "Is this it? Is this the extent of your worth?"

A hand plunged through the earth and grabbed him by the foot. "Not quite!" Naruto said. He held up a half ram seal. "_Bunshin Daibakuha!_" Yamamoto looked down in shock as realization set in. He tried to break away, but the clone's grip was too tight. Yamamoto yelled, but it was drowned out by the sound of the explosion from underneath.

**_KABOOM._**

Naruto had imparted so much chakra into the clone, the explosion blew even he away, though he had a good forty-foot space between them. _As long as I got him too, I don't care, _Naruto thought as he landed and just barely managed to keep his footing. He looked up just in time to see a large piece of earth falling straight toward his head, way too close to dodge.

Sasuke and Hinata appeared at Naruto's side, the latter using her natural speed to slap the bits of ground away from his face. "Thanks," he panted. "You two ok?"

Sasuke frowned. "We've been better," he said. "Mostly just embarrassed to be taken down as easily as we did."

Hinata nodded. "Aoiryu and Shukusatsu had to pull our butts out of trouble," she said, "although it took a moment to take effect. Sorry we made you wait."

Naruto nodded. "Don't worry about me," he said. "Kakashi's in trouble. Unconscious, probably injured.

Hinata activated her Byakugan. "I see him," she sad after a second. "He's hurt, but not bleeding. I see no internal injuries, except for his shoulder. He'll live."

"What about Yamamoto?" Sasuke asked.

She frowned. "I... I don't think the Byakugan can see him," she said. "I didn't notice him earlier. I think he has some weird bloodline ability to keep hidden from detection, or something."

"Not quite," a soft voice said from about ten feet to their left. Startled, the quartet leapt away through the trees and scanned the forest floor.

"Heh heh," Yamamoto chuckled as he stepped out from behind a tree. "I love scaring baby chicks like you." His shirt had been blown off by the explosion, and his pants had become little more than rags. Other than that, he remained uninjured. "No, it's not that I have a kekkei genkai, duckling," he said in a mocking tone. "Koukon Shikon remembers the taste off all those it has devoured before, and can identify those related to them. That's how I knew who you all were." He cocked his head. "It's too bad young Kakashi didn't know that little detail. It was such a _bore _stringing him along while we were out... Being on my best behavior... Koukon Shikon was getting restless, it was all I could do to reign it in all that time!"

"Monster!" Sasuke shouted. "Come on, it's time to tear him apart!"

"Sasuke, wait!"

Sasuke stopped in midstride and glared at Naruto. "What?" he barked.

"Kakashi and I together couldn't take him down," he said. "We need to retreat and plan this out."

"Fuck that!" Sasuke exclaimed. "If we go anywhere, Kakashi's finished!"

Yamamoto smiled grimly. "You have wise friends," he said. "But no matter. You'll all die by my... little friend, here." He twitched, spasmed, unexpectedly. "Oh, is that right," he muttered. "You really want to come out? I don't think they're worth the effort... Oh, all right. You deserve to have some fun, too."

Hinata's sword shook in her grasp. "I have a bad feeling about this," she said.

The whip-blade retreated into Yamamoto's chest, slithering like a serpent, the blade liquefying and entering his body with a sickly sucking sound. "Rejoice!" Yamamoto crowed. "Koukon Shikon wants to come out and play, at full power!" He held his had out, palm up, and within a moment blood began to drip like syrup down to the forest floor.

Naruto felt bile creep into his throat. An evil, oppressing chakra came to him in wave after wave, getting stronger the more blood was spilt. His keen nose picked up multiple scents from the vile stalactite of blood...

"Oh, gods," he murmured. "There must be dozens of peoples' blood swirling around in there."

Yamamoto smirked. "Hundreds," he said with relish. "Thousands, maybe. I lost count." He twisted his palm, and the blood took shape into a massive blade, five feet long, three wide, and with a wickedly sharp-looking point. The blood in the blade seemed to swirl about in random patterns, while its physical definitions remained static. "Sooo..." Yamamoto drawled as he swung his sword around lazily around him, as if limbering up, "Who's gonna be first?"

"FUCK THAT!" shouted Sasuke. "We're not going to die today! Come on, move it! Maneuver three! GO!"

Naruto and Hinata reacted automatically to Sasuke's command. This was a formation that they had drilled dozens of times before in practice, until they had gotten it exactly right. Naruto leaped into the air, flying through a dozen seals in a blur. **"Fūton: Shinkūgyoku!" **he shouted, releasing a flurry of blades made of his own wind chakra at Yamamoto's body. Yamamoto leaped backwards, almost lazily, and grinned as the jutsu kicked up a large cloud of dust around him.

**"Doton: Ganchūsō!" **Hinata called from below. Within the dust cloud, a horrendous rumbling was heard, and over a dozen spires of earth protruded from the ground from every angle. They were enormous, twenty feet long, and anything that had been caught on them would be easily skewered.

Unfortunately, the trio couldn't be that lucky; an instant after the jutsu was initiated, Yamamoto had jumped clear of the spires, straight up into the air. He hadn't been completely untouched, though: his left leg had obviously been gashed before he could get clear of the site. Naruto was amazed that their maneuver had worked this well, but it wasn't over yet.

**"Katon: Haisekishō!"** bellowed Sasuke from just to the other side of the spires. A gigantic cloud of ash spewed from his mouth to surround Yamamoto. To their satisfaction, bellows of pain rang from inside of the ash as it coated Yamamoto's skin, and most likely got into his eyes and other orifices. He was tough, but not invulnerable.

As one, they grabbed from their persons kunai with exploding tags and hurled them at the spot they predicted Yamamoto to land. They impacted the ground bare inches from each other in a perfect triangle, perfection brought on by hours and hours of practice.

Yamamoto fell through the small cloud, his sword noticeable gone, head-first towards the kunai and paper bombs. The tags exploded when he was just a few feet in the air, creating an extremely large explosion that nearly deafened them as the concussion knocked them on their collective asses.

With all of the explosions, concussions, and destruction, Naruto had lost track of his teammates. A thick layer of dust reduced his visibility to ten feet, not nearly enough to begin looking for his friends. He sat still, waiting for the dust to settle. Minute after minute passed, and slowly he could begin seeing more clearly, farther. The crater caused by the paper bombs came into view, and after a moment, Naruto saw into the bottom of the depression... and his blood ran cold.

Yamamoto stood there, stooped, heaving, gasping for breath, holding his shoulder, hobbling on one leg, as the other had sustained injury... but he was alive. After all of that, the exploding ash, the paper bombs, the burns on his skin, all these techniques that should have killed him, he was yet alive. Banged up, yes. But alive.

"_What the fuck?!" _shouted Naruto. "Why aren't you dead, you bastard?!"

Yamamoto turned an eye on Naruto. Only one eye, as the other was damaged and covered with soot and blood. "My... My... s-sword," he wheezed. "It is... no... normal... sword..." he coughed and hacked, spitting what looked like a tooth onto the ground.

"That's obvious," came Sasuke's snark reply from the opposite side of the hole. "It's made of _blood, _for god's sake."

Yamamoto turned to him and grinned. "Of course, kid," he said. "But that's only part of it. Have you children ever heard of... vampires?"

Naruto frowned down on the man. "Those are myths," he said. "Nothing more than stories. Fiction."

Yamamoto chuckled softly to himself. "So are demons," he said. "And... Angels." He turned again to look up at Hinata.

Sasuke blanched. "That's different," he said. "We know demons exist because we've seen them! Fought them!"

"So... The only things that exist in this world are things that you've seen? Or fought?" Yamamoto laughed hoarsely. "You little fool. While you weren't even an idea to your parents, I encountered and killed--" He stopped and coughed, droplets of blood and spittle raining from his mouth. "I've killed things that you couldn't even... Imagine..." He swayed on his feet, a glassy look coming over his good eye. "One of them... was a man with the power of demons. His family... were descended from... a monster."

Yamamoto's words were gradually losing strength, but he spoke on to a rapt audience. "His blood was... alive. Sentient, like a parasite. To stay alive... it needed to feed. I killed him... but not before his blood left his body... and invaded my own. It granted me some level of immortality... Invulnerability..." He dropped to his knees, his head drooping. "It took over me, a little. Made me stronger. More... savage. I killed one of the Mist's Seven... Swordsmen... destroyed his weapon. I took his place, for a time. I left when the Yondaime... Mizukage... tried to capture me to... study my blood." He raised up his ruined hands and looked at them with regret. "My living... blood."

He smiled, a small, genuine smile. "You three... You killed it. I can't recover. I'm... dying. I have a... a favor, please."

Naruto looked down on him with suspicion, although Hinata and Sasuke had a little pity in their eyes. "What do you want?" Naruto asked.

Yamamoto looked up at Naruto and smiled. "You will one day be much, much stronger than you are now. You might even tame the beast... inside of you. If you... do... and you meet the lord of the Mist... the jinchūriki for the Sanbi... Kill him. If you dare... at least... It was he who killed... all those people... Those loyal... people..."

His sentence trailed off. He slumped while kneeling, his head held low. For a moment, Naruto thought he was merely recovering his strength. But he was wrong.

Yamamoto had stopped breathing.

He was dead.

Naruto looked at the man in the pit with pity, scorn, disdain. Politics, even in the world of the ninja, didn't interest him. Was he really expected to kill his bretheren? He didn't know if he was capable of it.

"No promises," he said under his breath. He turned to Sasuke. "Go collect Kakashi, make sure he's safe. If he's injured worse than we thought, do your best. Hinata, grab our gear. Scan for the fastest way out of here. I want to be rid of this place by sundown."

They nodded, and without question, turned to their tasks. Not even for a moment was he surprised that they had obeyed his command, but neither had it brought him any elation. He knew that, after Kakashi, he would probably be the one to answer for their actions.

"No need to worry about me," said a voice behind Naruto before any of them could get to work. Naruto turned around, and there stood Kakashi, a bit mussed up but mostly fine, with their bags at his feet. "I caught the last couple minutes of that conversation, probably it was the explosions that woke me up. Putting my shoulder back into place _hurt..._ but that's the extent of my damages." He looked down the hole to the body of Yamamoto. "You three did this?" he asked, though he knew the answer to the question already. "Impressive. I honestly thought at least one of you would die if you fought." He smiled through his mask-- he had taken the newer one off already, and returned to his real face. "Thanks for disappointing me."

"You're welcome," Naruto snarled. "Let's just get out of here. Now."

Kakashi looked taken aback by his outburst, but took it in stride. "All right," he said. "Good idea. Hinata?"

"Oh! Um..." She searched with her Byakugan momentarily. "If we go north... We can get to a path that will take us back to the main trader's road and back to Konoha."

"Well then," Kakashi said, "lead the way. Come on, everyone... Let's go home."

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A/N: Well, there it is, in black and white. Love it or hate it, there's my story. Next chapter in a month or so, though we all know how bad my ability to keep to deadlines is. Read and review!


	15. Ending the Beginning

A/N: So, hey ya'll, how's it going? Still in culinary school in San Fran, having a ball, enjoying myself. This crazy place is getting weird, but you know what? I already love it. Only been here about five months, and I'm already in love with it.

I've been sporadic about my updates, but now I have a laptop, so I should be coming out with more regular chapters. Hooray for Wi-Fi, or I'd be screwed! Damn, Starbucks may be an evil corporation, but their customer service is bar none.

A lot of things have happened in the Naruto manga since May, and the way I was originally going to tell the story didn't quite mesh with the way it was told. But, you know what? I can roll with the flow. No spoilers, for those of you who just watch it and don't read it, but I'm gonna seriously have to rethink some future plotlines from now on. Hey, on the plus side, I get to make Sarutobi look even more like a manipulative bastard, which I always think is really, really cool. I swear, I don't mean to pick on him, but…but… it's just so easy!

Not gonna answer reviews today… I'll just reply to the important ones later.

Oh, for the person who asked what kind of music I listen to when I write (I lost your e-mail, I'm sorry) I listen to Flogging Molly, Linkin Park, Fort Minor, Eminem, Cake, Nickelback, and a bunch of others. Basically, I turn my playlist on and just zone out.

So, yeah… That's about all I have to say. Read on, otaku soldiers, and enjoy your feature presentation!

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**Chapter 15**

"Report," barked the Hokage when Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, and Kakashi entered the Hokage Tower's peak. It was late at night, and yet nobody was surprised that the village leader was still at work, filling out what looked like tedious paperwork.

"Sir," Kakashi said, his hands clasped behind his back, "the mission was a success. There were a few mishaps along the way, and we had to improvise a large segment of our tactics… but in the end we achieved our primary objectives." Kakashi went on to explain in detail their activities since they had left, up to and including the conflict with Yamamoto and the details thereof.

Meanwhile, the Sanseirei sat down in comfortable chairs provided by a nervous secretary. Shinobi came in at all times of the night, it was true, but not many smelled so strongly of ashes and blood in the presence of the Hokage himself. That it was this squad… they must have had an interesting story to tell.

"…That was when I regained consciousness," Kakashi said. "I approached Naruto from behind, saw Sasuke and Hinata at the other side of the crater, and the samurai and former Mist Seven Swordsman Yamamoto at the bottom."

"And what was his status?" questioned Sarutobi.

"He was injured, rather severely," Kakashi answered. "Sir, it is my opinion that, although he didn't seem to display his full power while fighting them, possibly due to overconfidence or some other mitigating factor, the fact that they beat Yamamoto is proof that they are an extremely effective squad in and of themselves. I also believe that when in the field, they can perform without myself or any other squad leader present."

Naruto perked his ear toward Kakashi and Sarutobi's conversation; he was dead tired after covering all of that ground in only about six hours, with very few stops for rest, but this was something interesting. Kakashi had confidence in them to that level? Who'd have thought?

"Is that what you believe?" Sarutobi asked. "Do you stand behind that assumption?"

Kakashi nodded. "I do," he said. "While they still have much to learn, I think the three of them can be a good squad, even compared to the ANBU. I have no doubts that, given a little more time and training, they'll have no more real use for me as a squad leader."

The Hokage grunted. "Noted," he said. "But you're making yourself sound obsolete, Kakashi. Coming from one of the very few in the village I can trust implicitly, it just doesn't sound right."

"Perhaps," Kakashi said, a smile in his voice. "But soon—inside of two or three years, maybe, they'll surpass me in skill as individuals. I already trust in their abilities. From what they told me, my safety was their primary concern after I became unconscious. Sir, they fought an S-class shinobi to keep me alive… I cannot ignore that. In short, sir… They pass with flying colors."

Kakashi was fudging the truth just a little bit, Naruto thought. In truth, it had been he who had suggested retreating and regrouping, while Sasuke had stood firm and kept them there to fight. That he hadn't mentioned that detail marked Sasuke's loyalty to Naruto. Truly, they had become closer than either of them thought they would.

Also, he noted that he had ignored their instances of insubordination. For that, he was doubly grateful. Unless he had, they would have been in a good deal of trouble. But something that Kakashi had said to them once rang in his head: "In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum, that's true, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum." Even to the Hokage himself, he'd hold back information to keep his comrades safe.

"So, does that mean that we're done with boot camp?" Sasuke asked.

Sarutobi smiled. "If you mean your days of constant training, exercise, discipline, and exhaustion are over… I suppose so," he said. "But make no mistake, we're not through with you just yet. You've had a rough month, and you must be weary. Every shinobi knows the importance of resting the body. For the next two weeks, you three are on official vacation. Use your time as you will. Don't train too hard if you don't want too. Relax, have some fun, even." He sighed, suddenly. "As you know, you aren't allowed to speak of what you've done. I trust you, but you have to be careful with what you say. If anyone asks, just tell them you've been on an escorting duty somewhere. Is that acceptable?"

Relief flooded the bodies of the Sanseirei. This was exactly what they needed. "Will we be staying in the ANBU compound?" Hinata asked.

"For tonight, yes. It is too late for us to find you other quarters. But tomorrow morning, I will be personally taking Naruto to the home his father used to own. Sasuke will return to the Uchiha compound. But... I don't suppose you want to go home, do you?"

Hinata bit her lip and looked down. "I'd... I'd rather not," she said quietly. "Do I have to?"

Sarutobi shook his head. "Once you graduate the Academy," he said, "you can live anywhere you want. Nobody has the right to tell you different, not even your father."

"Forget about it!" Naruto exclaimed. "There's no way I'm letting that idiot get his hands on Hinata again! If he finds out about the masks and her place in the Sanseirei, he'll just try to use her to his advantage!" He turned his head to look Hinata in the eye. "There's no question about it," he said. "You're coming with me!"

Sarutobi smiled; it was good to see Naruto so protective of Hinata. She kept him stable where perhaps nobody else could. "Hinata-chan," he said softly. "Is that acceptable to you?"

"Oh—yes, of course!" she exclaimed. "That's just fine!" A smile broke out over her face. "Perfect, really. Thank you, Hokage-sama."

"Bah. Think nothing of it," he said. "Happy shinobi are good shinobi." But the smile on his face belied his vocal indifference. He genuinely cared, in his own way, for the children.

"Is that everything?" Asked Sasuke, his arms crossed over his chest. "I need to get some sleep. Almost fell over just a second ago when those two were getting all lovey-dovey."

The Hokage laughed. "Yes, Sasuke, we're done. You know your way back to the barracks, still, I hope. You're rooms are still there. Naruto, I'll see you at nine a.m. Hinata, too, I suppose. Will you be joining us, Sasuke?"

Sasuke shook his head. "I don't think so," he said. "I'm just going to rest tomorrow, maybe train in the forest sometime. I've been around people for a long time. I just want to be alone for a while."

Sarutobi nodded. "Understandable," he said. "You've been through a lot lately. Take your time and collect yourself."

Sasuke shook his head. "It's not that," he said. "Shukusatsu has been telling me about the power of the Tengu clan for a long time now, but we haven't really had much time to train me in them. After tomorrow, I'm going to go to the 44th Training Ground and learn what I can."

The Hokage and Kakashi cocked an eye each. "Are you sure that's where you want to train?" Kakashi asked. "It's not known as 'The Forest of Death' for nothing, you know."

Sasuke nodded. "Yes," he said. "I've heard stories about it, and it seems like the perfect place to train. If I can't survive in there by myself, I don't deserve to be called shinobi."

Sarutobi frowned. "Technically, that place is open to all Konoha shinobi for training," he said, "although only ANBU use it regularly. If you really want to..." He glanced at Kakashi. "What say you?"

The silver-haired Jounin shrugged. "While it does pose a potential hazard," he said, "I don't see why he shouldn't be allowed in. Without other shinobi in there hunting him down, it shouldn't be too risky. I'll clear it with Tenzou, but it shouldn't be a problem to get the ANBU schedule moved around if it's in the way."

"It's settled, then," Sarutobi said. "How long do you plan on staying there, Sasuke?"

"More than a week," he said, "but less than two. That should be long enough to master the first few levels of what Shukusatsu has to teach me."

Sarutobi smiled. "Do you really think you can master a demonic art in that short a time?"

A glint appeared in Sasuke's eye as he smirked at the village's leader. "No problem," he said. "I don't... foresee anything getting in my way."

The way he said that gave the Hokage pause. What did the young Uchiha have up his sleeve? "Good. Two weeks from tomorrow, you three are to be here at noon for your next mission. Naruto, Hinata, meet me outside the barracks after breakfast so I can show you to your new home. Until then, dismissed."

The three nodded, then turned their backs on Sarutobi and Kakashi without formality grabbed their gear and exited the room. Kakashi stayed behind, presumably to give his own notes on the mission, but Naruto was way too tired to care.

They walked for a while through the darkened village streets until they arrived at their barracks, cleared the checkpoint, and walked upstairs to their rooms. Without a goodbye, Sasuke entered his room and shut the door, leaving Naruto and Hinata alone in the near-pitch black hall.

Hinata and Naruto stared into each other's eyes in the gloom for a moment, then without a word joined hands and slipped into her room, where they slept and held each other until dawn.

* * *

"You know," Naruto said through a mouthfull of eggs as he looked around the cafeteria that the ANBU squad shared, "I think I'm going to miss this place."

Hinata paused as she cut her bacon and looked at him from across the table. "What do you mean?" she asked.

He swallowed, then said, "Well, I've just gotten used to this place, is all. We spent two months here, then went to Kasugai... we've always been around other people. Never really gotten the chance to be... alone."

Hinata smiled coyly. "Are you worried about..." She dropped her voice into a low whisper as she leaned ever-so-slightly over the table, "...alone with me?"

Naruto shot back a smirk of his own. "No, I'm not," he said, "but that's not what I meant. Before all this started, I lived all alone. I didn't really have anyone to- to share anything with. Nobody cared. But then this happened, and suddenly I'm surrounded by you and Sasuke and the rest of the ANBU squad, and they took me in. It's like I just suddenly joined a big family. And now..." He sighed. "I don't know what the house my father left me is like, or what is in it.

"You and me, together, it's like we're family," he continued. "When I'm with you, it just feels right. Does that make any sense?"

Hinata smiled and took one of his hands in hers and nodded. "It does," she said. "That's what family is supposed to feel like. I've never really felt like that with my own, but you make up for all of the lost time." She turned her head down, just an inch or so. "One day, we really will be family," she almost whispered. "I know it, beyond any doubt. Together, forever."

Naruto's eyes smiled along with his lips. "The way it was meant to be," he said."

"Well, if it isn't the little love birds," a familiar voice called out from across the cafeteria, raising the attention of about twenty off-duty ANBU along with Hinata and Naruto. Honoka strolled toward them in her civillian clothes, a simple white tank top and baggy cargo pants her ensemble.

Hinata blushed. "Very funny, Honoka-chan," she said with a blush when the woman came into talking distance. "Just tell the whole world, while you're at it."

Honoka laughed as she sat down next to Naruto. "Oh, come on, it's cute!" she said. "And anyway, it's not like the whole compound doesn't know already that you two are a hot item. I mean, come on! You practically glow when this little cutie is around ya!" She wrapped an arm around his neck, pulled him in, and gave him a noogie.

Naruto sighed as he pulled away. "Quit teasing us!" he said, a smile showing he wasn't too irked. "We've got a long day ahead of us, and we gotta get ready!"

She nodded. "I know," she said. "Sandaime-sama asked me to come over here and tell you that he'll be waiting outside in half an hour or so. Finish your breakfast, grab your gear, and get your asses out there, ok? My words, not his."

"I figured," said Hinata with a laugh.

"Wouldn't put it past him, though," said Naruto.

The couple nodded. "We'll be there," Hinata said. "Right, Naruto?"

"Yep," the blond replied. "Soon as we finish eating, we'll head back to the barracks and get our gear."

Honoka smiled. "Good," she said. "See ya then." She walked away, stopping once to say hi to a colleague of hers, then left the cafeteria.

* * *

The air outside held a chill that gave Naruto goosebumps; though Konoha resided in a fairly temperate climate that held off snow but for one or two flurries a year, seasons could not be so easily dealt with; winter was deep in its run, autumn left far behind.

On their backs were their packs, and in each hand was a duffel bag containing all of their belongings. Truth was, they didn't really have a lot to take with them. They had gone to the ANBU with almost nothing to their names, and left with what they had procured while there.

"How ya doing?" Honaka asked as she walked over to the couple, the Hokage a few feet behind her.

Hinata smiled. "A little nervous, actually," she said. "We're going to be living in the Yondaime's home, after all."

Honoka chuckled. "Yeah, I think I can understand what you mean. There's a bit of legacy to live up to... Right, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto nodded, a smile of his own crossing his lips. "Maybe," he said. "But I'm not gonna be living in my father's shadow for long. One day I'll surpass him, and then..." He shrugged. "Who knows?"

The old man looked down onto Naruto with warm eyes. "Maybe... Maybe one day you, too, will be the Hokage."

Naruto snorted. "No, not a chance. I couldn't handle the pressure like you can, old man."

Sarutobi laughed, a deep-bellied chortle. "We'll see, Naruto. We'll see."

"Do you have everything that you need?" Honoka asked the children.

Hinata nodded. "What you see is really what we have," she explained. "We really didn't bring too much with us to begin with; anything that couldn't fit into our packs, we put into storage scrolls."

"Then let's move on," Sarutobi said, turning from the younger shinobi and strolling at a leisurely pace.

Naruto and Hinata caught up to him, with Honoka taking up position several feet behind them. "Hokage-sama," Hinata asked politely, "where exactly is Naruto's father's home?"

Sarutobi looked down at her. "Across the village, near the wall and about three miles from the main village gate. The house is two stories, fairly spacious, and has room for perhaps seven or eight people to live comfortably. Eight to ten acres of forest surround it on each side, with an open field a little to the west. Minato... he and his wife had intended on reviving their respective lost clans, with plans to give Naruto her name, and their second child his. Unfortunately, it was not to be."

Not for the first time, Naruto realized how close this Hokage had been with the last one. "So I should have had a brother, or sister?"

Sarutobi nodded sadly. "This wasn't supposed to be your fate, Naruto. All anyone wanted for you was for you to be happy, to grow up normally, and be free. But life isn't always fair, as you know."

"I know, I know," Naruto said. "But this is the only life I have to live." He glanced at Hinata. "Honestly, it could be worse."

"Much worse, I could imagine," agreed the old man.

They had been walking along the road that bisected Konoha that ran straight from the gates to the Hokage Monument for a while. Every now and then, one of the villagers on the thoroughfare would greet the Hokage, or bring a concern to him, to which he would always promise too look into to see if he could help.

After about half an hour of their trek through the main road, they took another one to the right, just past the hospital, then left once more. Naruto had never been down this way before, not even on the evenings that he had leapt the rooftops when he had thought he was alone. Many of the buildings were homes, but there were many stores and shops along the way, as well, some of which looked fairly high-end.

They had almost come to an askew intersection in the road when the person that Naruto most despised came into view out of a building on the corner: Hyuuga Hiashi, the father of Hinata.

He stopped dead in his tracks, as if stunned by the sight of them, though his face showed no emotion. Sarutobi, on the other hand, made no move to avoid him. In fact, he approached the Hyuuga headman, a smile on his face. "Good morning, Hiashi-san," he said. "What brings you to the Rose District today?"

Hiashi looked upon the elder man, his eyes flickering to Hinata, then Naruto, behind him. "I came here," he said, his voice flat, "to pick up an order of rather rare tea that I had ordered from Mizu. I wanted to receive it personally, as it was quite expensive. And you?"

Sarutobi's smile turned slightly devious. "Young Honoka-chan and I are escorting Naruto-kun to his new home," he said. "He had just returned from a rather long escort mission, and I'm sure that he wouldn't want to be spending the rest of his life in the ANBU barracks. You understand, right?"

Hiashi slowly nodded. "I see," he said. "And where, may I ask, is he to be residing?"

The old man turned his head to the right, along the street they had been about to travel. "Just the old place near Training Ground 9, you know the one."

A flicker of emotions flashed over the elder Hyuuga's face, between shock, anger, and horror. "You can't mean… No, it's impossible!" He moved swiftly to within half a foot of the Hokage. "You're going to let his live in… Yondaime Hokage's house?"

"Please, lower your voice," Sarutobi said evenly, "when addressing your Hokage." There was only a hint of venom in his words, just enough to sting.

Hiashi blinked, as if caught somewhere he had no memory of going. He took two slow steps backwards, and nodded his head curtly, the closest he would get to a bow. "My apologies, Hokage-sama," he said, more quietly than before. "I just… Please, could you tell me why he is moving into the home of your esteemed successor?"

Sarutobi looked at the man for a moment, as if evaluating a youngster who had transgressed. "That is none of your concern," he said, "nor will I tolerate you making it. It is in his best interest to live there with so many people who want the power inside of him; you of all people should know how safe the boundaries of the grounds are, and why it is the best place for him."

"And I, of all people, should have the right to protest this!"

Naruto stepped up to the Hyuuga, turning his head between him and the Hokage. "Sarutobi-sama, what is he talking about?"

Sarutobi took his eyes off of Hiashi to look down at Naruto. "Years before you were born," he said, "Namikaze Minato and Hiashi were friends. Hiashi even helped set up the defenses that protect the house my successor built."

Naruto turned angry eyes to Hiashi. "So, you think that just because you helped set the place up that you can decide who lives in it, you pompous bastard?" the blond shouted. "That's complete bullshit and you know it!"

"I will not allow you to defile the house of Namikaze!" Hiashi shouted at the boy. "I will not stand for this, no!"

"Hiashi, stand down!" barked Sarutobi.

"How could you allow this, Hokage-sama?" Hiashi asked. "What right do you have to give the home of my friend to this—to this—"

"This what, Hyuuga? This what?" Naruto forced himself between the older men, splitting them apart. He locked his sapphire eyes with the pale lavender of the Hyuuga. "Monster? Freak? Abomination? Do you think—really, seriously think—that I am any of those?" Fury crept into his voice, a righteous rage that got his blood boiling. Unconsciously, chakra began to flow through his tenketsu, triggered by the adrenalin pumping into his system. "What did I ever do, what? Did I—did I hurt someone you loved? Did I crap in your orange juice? Tell me, Hyuuga-sama, what did I do to earn, to deserve your hatred?"

Hiashi looked down at the boy with cold contempt. "You were born," he said flatly. "If you hadn't have been brought into this world—"

"It would have been another child to host the Kyuubi, and you know it. You would've treated him or her the exact same way, no matter who it was. I didn't ask to be born, or be the jinchūriki of the Kyuubi. None of this is my fault. But you and the rest of the village treat me like shit just for being who I am!" He pointed a quivering finger straight into the face of Hiashi. "One of these days," he continued, "I'm going to be needed as the weapon I am, as you consider me to be. I'm gonna have to defend you, all of you, because you just don't have what it takes to protect the village from some of the really nasty stuff out there. Maybe one of the other the jinchūriki will attack, or this Akatsuki crew I heard about in the ANBU barracks—there's gonna be some time when I'm needed, when I'm all you've got.

"And you know what? I'll be there. I'll save the whole fuckin village. All of it. Not just the parts I like, not just the people that treat me like a human being and not a monster, but the whole thing. Do you know why? Do you, Hyuuga-_sama_? Because that's my destiny. That's my inheritance. That's my job. That's my birthright."

In a voice that only Hiashi, Sarutobi, and Hinata could hear, Naruto said, "And so is the house."

"Wow," someone said off to Naruto's left. Without realizing it, they had drawn quite a croud; some fifty or sixty people had come out of nearby shops and homes to see what the commotion was. Of course, everyone knew the Hokage, and it seemed that many knew Hiashi, if not personally, then on sight. Naruto, of course, was infamous. With these three in such close proximity, something interesting was sure to happen.

Many of them had heard what Naruto had to say. Some looked confused, but a few had contemplative expressions on their faces. Naruto had never met any of them, but most of them looked like decent folk. Some were shinobi, but most looked and dressed like civilians.

"Hiashi," said Sarutobi quietly. "Just—just go. I'll deal with you later. In my office. Three o'clock. And whatever you do… do not be late. Naruto, let's get you to your new home."

"Hokage-sama," Hiashi said as the crew turned their backs on him. "Where are you taking my daughter?"

Hinata stopped and turned to her father, a sweet smile on her face. "Me, father?" she said. "They're taking me home, too."

Surprise came to the elder Hyuuga. "You mean—you're going back to the Hyuuga compound?"

"Oh, no," the girl said, "not at all. I'm going to where my real home is…" She turned away and fell into step with the others. "Wherever Naruto is, that is my real home. The compound was only a prison." She glanced at Naruto. "He… he is my salvation. From you."

"Hinata—"

Naruto turned on him in a flash. "Don't you dare say her name!" he shouted, only half-aware of the people watching. "Don't you ever say her name again! You never deserved a daughter like her! For years you treated her like she was just a pawn in your clan politics, no, less than that!" He shook with barely-suppressed rage. "Don't—just go, Hyuuga, and don't ever talk to her, or me, again. Ever. I just don't think I can stand not punching you if you do." Naruto's eyes burned hypnotically into Hiashi's. "Do you… understand?"

Hiashi's mouth opened once, twice, unable to speak at what he felt coming from the boy, the pure destructive potential contained in that body. Every shinobi, save for Hinata and Sarutobi, became uneasy with the chakra flowing off of his body in invisible waves. Even Honoka looked edgy.

Naruto didn't wait for an answer; he merely turned and stalked after his group, leaving Hiashi looking the fool.

"Naruto…" Hinata said as the boy walked beside her. "Naruto, calm down. You're leaking enough chakra to alert the ANBU."

He sighed and closed his eyes. After a moment, his chakra coils slowed down, back down to normal levels. "Better?" he asked, a slight smile upon his lips.

"Much," she said, lacing the fingers of her left hand into his right. "Thank you for what you said to my father. I wish I could have said half of it..."

"Ya know," Honoka said from behind them, "maybe it's better that you didn't."

They turned to the woman. "What ya mean?" Naruto asked.

She stuck her hands in her pockets. "After all of the crap you've taken, you just proved, by yourself, that you had what it takes to stand up to one of the most politically influential men in the village. Not only that, you put him in his place and left him speechless. You practically humiliated him. On top of that, you said, very out loud, that you're gonna protect the village, no matter what." She looked over at the boy. "Just how long do you think it'll take for everyone in the freakin village to have heard about all that?" She laughed. "By the time the rumor makes its rounds, you'll have had him crying, begging you not to kill him."

Naruto snorted. That was how rumors tended to go at times. "I meant every word," he said.

"We know," said the Hokage. "And I'm sure Hinata-chan appreciates you coming into your defense, but…"

"But?" prompted Naruto.

"But… Telling Hiashi that the house was your birthright… Maybe that wasn't the best idea."

"Why? Because he might point out that the Yondaime was my father?" Naruto shook his head. "I don't care. It's not like I can't take care of myself anymore. I can."

"We know that," the Hokage said, surprisingly gently, "but you shouldn't invite hardships on yourself if you don't have to."

Naruto looked down. "I know," he said. "I know. But he got me so riled up, so angry… I couldn't help myself. I'm sorry, Sarutobi-sama."

"It's all right, Naruto-kun. Your secrets are yours to tell. You are my soldier… but you are also your own man. I cannot decide your life for you." He looked off into the distance, through some trees. "Nobody can."

They all walked in contemplative silence as they continued their walk through the village, each step taking them closer to their final destination. Finally, they reached the end of the line on the main roads, and turned down a path through thickly-wooded growth.

"About a mile in is the center of Training Ground 9," said Sarutobi. "All land for a mile radius is public training land. Three miles beyond that is the official border of the property that your house is on. You'll have plenty of privacy, rest assured."

"And what about the… the defenses that you said protected the place?"

The old man nodded. "There is a complex set of seals inside of the house," he said, "that protect the grounds. They synch with the true master of the home, and the land… Well, it's a little too difficult to just explain. But rest assured, while inside of your home, when you call it home, there can hardly be a safer place for you to be."

Naruto smiled. "I think I'll get to like the place," he said. "So, you say it's about four miles down the path, right?"

Sarutobi nodded. "That's right."

"Well, let's pick up the pace!" Naruto exclaimed. "I've been itching to run all day!"

The Hokage laughed. "Do you think you could keep up with me, boy?" he said with a good-natured smile.

"Just try me, old man!" The two locked eyes for a second, and in a flash, both had taken down the road at an almost blinding speed.

Honoka sighed as she watched the duo race down the dusty trail. "Men," she mumbled under her breath, making Hinata giggle. "They're so… so…"

"I know," laughed Hinata as she took off after them. "Isn't it great?"

* * *

Hinata caught up to the men, coming up behind them just a few seconds after they had stopped at the border of the house's property, with Honoka bringing up the rear. None of them were out of breath; they had each used chakra to increase their body's stamina. "Are you two done running around?" Hinata asked, smiling.

The Hokage looked at her warmly, his robes and ceremonial hat not an inch out of place. "Of course, my dear; we are, after all, where we need to be."

Naruto looked through the clearing that lead to more trees on the other side. "So, this is it, huh?" he asked, taking in every detail he could. "Doesn't look like too much."

"Don't be fooled," said Sarutobi. "Right now, we are outside of the private property of the household. In another two feet, however, we will be on protected lands. Anyone who the house regards as an enemy could be at fairly serious risk."

Naruto looked quizzically at the village leader. "You talk as if the house is alive," he said slowly. "What is going on here?"

A few seconds of silence followed Naruto's question, making him nervous. "The seals that protect this house," he said, finally, "were brought over from _Uzushiogakure no Sato, _many years before any of you were born—even you, Honoka-chan. Their mastery of the seals was unparalleled, and it was from them that Minato gained his mastery, surpassing even them.

"Is the house alive? …Not exactly. Not in the way that you might think, anyway. It's not sentient, at least. But deep under the foundation of the house, a scroll has a complex series of seals that tie into the owner of the property and provide a certain defense at the owner's behalf. The power of the seals permeate the land and provide a defense, one that makes it difficult to get to the house without the land's master's permission. This protection is particularly strong inside the confines of the home; essentially, this land is its own, isolated fortress."

Naruto frowned. "So, you aren't letting me live here because you _want _to," he said. "But because you _have _to."

Sarutobi sighed. "It's not like that, Naruto-kun" he said. "Please don't take it as such. It really was in your father's will that you take his home, but I couldn't give it to you until now, with concern for your safety."

"That, and it'd be a political nightmare," Naruto said evenly, not backing off. "Anyone who knew anything about this place would be able to put two and two together. Am I right?"

A moment's pause. "Correct," Sarutobi said.

Naruto sighed. "Politics," he mumbled. "Give me something to punch, everything's great. People, I'm not so good with." He looked out over the land that was his property. "So, what do we do now?" he asked.

"Take a few steps forward," Sarutobi said. "Hopefully, the seals will recognize you as the son of Minato."

"Hopefully?" Naruto said, cocking an eyebrow up at the old man. "What do you mean 'hopefully'?"

Sarutobi frowned. "Your parents never had a chance to bring you here to attune you to the seals," he said. "To gain entry, one had to be acknowledged by Minato… It's my hope that as a blood relative of his, the seals will accept you."

"You hope?" Naruto mumbled. "Hope. Great. What if you're wrong?"

"If I'm wrong? Then we back away, very slowly, with no sudden moves. People have been known to be attacked from the land up to ten feet outside the property per se."

Naruto looked at the man slack-jawed. "Permission to speak freely, Hokage-sama," he said formally.

"Granted," he replied.

"You really, really suck right now." Without another word, Naruto crossed the border that marked his property, took three confident steps forward, and stood stock-still.

"Naruto!" exclaimed Hinata.

Naruto held up a hand, silencing her. "Hold on," he said. "I can feel something. It's like… a presence, like when you know someone is watching you, without being able to hear or see them. That small itch in the back of your brain… Something's crawling over my mind right now." He grew silent, as motionless as a rock and stood there for several long, long minutes.

Finally, Naruto twitched. "It's fine, people. We're good to go. Welcome to the most valuable real estate in the village."

* * *

Though it was only mid-morning, the sunlight seemed subdued as it shone through the treetops as the group traveled along the well-worn path that lead to Naruto's new house. They didn't travel for too long; after about ten minutes of hushed walking, the tree-line broke, and for the first time, Naruto saw that place that he was to now call home.

The building took Naruto's breath away at its simplistic beauty. The architecture didn't seem to be anything spectacular, but for some reason it commanded total respect. The second floor was structured evenly over the first, with a rounded arch over the door and a semicircular canopy with twin pillars supporting it. The outer walls of the house gently curved away from the porch, fading off until they couldn't be seen from the front. The walls were all white, with dark red shutters bordering the windows.

All in all, it was quietly imposing, although Naruto knew that he would probably soon come to love it. It felt like… like he was coming home, at last.

"Welcome home," Sarutobi said, echoing Naruto's thoughts eerily.

"Yeah…" Naruto said absently, not really hearing him. He was too busy taking in all that he could see before they actually approached. He felt a hand slip into his, Hinata's, he knew.

"Ready?" she asked softly, not just asking if he was prepared to enter the building. Under the simple word, she was asking him if he was ready to take on the responsibility of his father's name, his legacy, and to be once more thrust into the public eye and scrutiny that he had escaped when he graduated and became a Sanseirei. Asking if he was emotionally prepared to learn more about his parents, more than Sarutobi had already told him.

If he was ready to spend his life there with her.

His blue eyes met her lavender orbs. "Yes," he said, answering all of her silent questions. "I'm ready." He looked at Sarutobi with a smile. "Take us in, old man!" he said with a laugh.

Sarutobi smiled warmly. "All right," he said. "Let's take you home, you two. You've earned it."

It took just a few moments to cross the open stretch between the trees and the house, but Naruto's heart was thundering like a jackhammer all through the walk. After all this time… he had a place that was all his own, where he could just be _him, _be happy, be safe. He was unused to the feeling of security; after living most of his life with an eye out for potential trouble, it was a welcome to just be able to relax for a while.

They got to the front door, then stopped. "Do you have a key, Sarutobi-sama?" Naruto asked.

"No need for one," he answered. "Considering it would be near-impossible for anyone to get this close to your property without you knowing it, anyone who could would most likely have the skills to get around a simple lock." He opened the door, the smallest of squeaks protesting the intrusion after years of disuse. "While you are on your property," he said, "the seals that guard your home attune to you, and let you know the location of each and every single person on the premises. The closer you are to the core scroll, the stronger the detection."

"Basically, nobody could ever sneak into here," Naruto said.

The Sandaime nodded. "Yes."

Naruto smiled. "Cool," he said. "No more rocks through _my _window, then."

Sarutobi laughed. "If that's the most you have to worry about," he said, "I think you'll probably be very happy here."

Hinata, followed by Naruto and Honoka, went through the front door of the house behind Sarutobi. The inside foyer was spacious, with minimal line-of-sight interruptions on this part of the first floor. From the front door, Naruto could see well to the back wall and out the glass windows and double doors that lead to the rear end of the property.

To the left he saw a sliding door that lead, he presumed, into some sort of living room, and to the right a well-furnished kitchen area and dining table with a quartet of chairs. The floors were wood, except for the kitchen which had a utilitarian linoleum base.

"Nice place," Naruto remarked as he slowly turned his head side to side, taking it all in. "It looks… it feels like… kind of like I've actually come home." A slow smile crept about his lips. "I like it."

"Me too," Hinata said softly. "I feel like I could live here forever."

Sarutobi smiled at the pair. "You can, if you want to," he said. "This is your home now, Naruto, and yours too, if you wish, Hinata. This is the inheritance that the Yondaime, my successor left for you. He knew that, one day, you would be ready to take it."

"I know," Naruto said. "It's just… it's so _surreal_ to have something physical to connect me to my parents, after all this time. I'm just a little bit overwhelmed right now."

A glint came to Sarutobi's eye. "If this is overwhelming," he said, "you'd better shore up. I still have to give you the grand tour yet."

"Grand tour?" Hinata asked.

"Yes. There are secrets in this house that warrant such protections that it has. Take your belongings upstairs, and I will show you… the rest of the house."

Naruto glanced at Hinata, who likewise looked his way. What did the old man have in mind?

They went up the stairs that was to the left of the main door, quickly found the master bedroom, left their packs, and rejoined the Honoka and Sarutobi. "Ready?" he asked.

"Born ready," said Naruto.

"Good. Follow me." He walked past the kitchen to a door on the wall. Engraved onto it was a seal, with space in the middle wide enough for a palm. "Naruto, as master of the house, and the only living descendent of Minato, only you have the authority at the moment to open this door. Once, I and a few others could do it, but with his death it was—you could say it reset itself. If anyone but you tried to open it, or get past it without activating the seal, a series of traps would immediately spring, and the stairwell and hallway walls would collapse."

Naruto looked up at Sarutobi. "Are there really things down there that are that important?" he asked. "What could be so vital?"

Sarutobi's eyes narrowed, just a little bit. "Look for yourself," he said. "But I must warn you… your father's life's work is down there. Minato was brilliant, almost beyond comprehension, as I'm sure Sando has told you. He had many secrets, as many, or more, than the major clans of the village. Every discovery of his, every idea, every stray thought that crossed his mind, is down there.

"Naruto, I don't think I have to tell you just how dangerous it could be if some of those documents fell into the wrong hands. Do you remember the scroll your friend, Yourichi, stole from my tower, back when this all began?"

A shadow fell over the golden-haired young man. "How can I forget?" he asked rhetorically. "I'll never forget what that bastard, Mizuki, made him do."

"That scroll," Sarutobi said, "was written by your father."

Naruto's eyes went wide. "Are you kidding?" he said. "If he wrote it—why do you have it?"

The Hokage paused for a moment. "After he created it and mastered it," he said softly, "he gave it to me. He said to only use it as a last resort, in case…" He turned his head from the boy. "In case the Kyuubi escaped from you in a moment of weakness. Without the kekkai genkai of the Shodaime, or an Uchiha with the Mangekyo, it would be nearly impossible to restrain the Kyuubi without too many shinobi dying in the process. The scroll contains the strongest sealing method there is, along with instruction on how to incapacitate it long enough to contain it."

Naruto's expression soured. "Sando told me something about that," he said. "But my father removed him before the jutsu could be used." He looked at the door. "I think it's time to see what my dad had been doing in his free time, don't you?"

He placed his palm where he knew it would have to go. The calligraphic symbols surrounding it glowed for a few seconds, then with a muted thump, the panel fell back into the wooden door, which opened inward to expose a winding stairwell going under the house.

Stone steps echoed, their footfalls bouncing back and forth on the granite walls. Light from torches that automatically flared as soon the door was open cast eerie shadows on the descending wall. After only a moment, they reached the bottom steps, blocked by another door, but a more mundane one. Naruto opened it, leading into a hallway that looked much like the interior of the house upstairs: warm, cream-colored walls lit by lights recessed in the ceiling lead down a hallway about forty feet long. Halfway down was another door, along with one at the very end.

"What's in there?" Naruto asked, indicating the left.

"In there?" Sarutobi smiled. "That's the Arsenal."

"A-Arsenal?" Naruto stammered. "What the hell is that?"

A moment's pause filled the air before Sarutobi spoke. "Besides his records," he said, "which are valuable in and of themselves, there is one other thing that is guarded down here, below your home. The Arsenal is, most likely, the largest collection of unique, dangerous, or forbidden weapons in world. Whenever Minato fought an opponent with a weapon or tool that would be too dangerous in the wrong hands, he confiscated it—usually from their corpse, mind you—and brought it here for study and lockdown. Behind this door is the most destructive potential in all of Konoha, save for the Kyuubi in your body, Naruto." He turned his head toward the closed door. "Being the master of this house isn't just about inheriting your father's legacy, son. With the items in this room, you could conceivably take over all of Konohagakure. Some of the weapons stored here truly are that monstrous." He locked and held Naruto's gaze. "If nothing else," he said, "this should prove to you just how much trust I am putting in you. You are the only one who can enter this room at will; even I, with full access to your father's records, could only go in with him before."

"How…" Naruto took a minute to compose his thoughts. "How bad would it be if something were to happen to these weapons?" he asked.

Sarutobi's eyes grew hard as stone. "The village would go on lockdown," he said, "and may the gods have mercy on our souls."

Naruto whistled. "I think… I'll just check them out later, then. If everything you say is true, I might spend hours in there just looking at everything."

Sarutobi nodded. "As you wish. We'll move on to the Sanctum, as Minato liked to call it, and then young Honoka and I will leave the two of you to your own devices."

It took barely a moment to reach the other door, this one with an identical seal pad to the one that lead to the basement upstairs. Knowing what to do, Naruto put his hand to it; it opened with a soft thump, and the group entered the room

Naruto stopped to gasp, and he heard Hinata and Honoka do the same. The room they had entered was massive, easily over a hundred yards in length from the door, and about fifty in width. Shelves filled the room, stem to stern, most over seven feet in height and over a dozen yards long. Most contained scrolls of every size and shape, with no arrangement that Naruto could see—not as of yet, anyway.

He looked at the row immediately to his left; one scroll seemed to be notes on body transformation jutsu, but the one next to it was little more than instructions on advanced kunai combat techniques. He took a closer look at the tab below it, stuck to the wood: they were marked with dates, from roughly fifteen years prior, on the same day.

"Is this—holy shit, is this all chronological?" Naruto asked, awed by the sheer volume of information before him.

"It is," Sarutobi said, "and it is a real bastard to find something in particular in a hurry. A relatively small portion of the library you see here was inherited by him, arranged that way by its former owner, so he kept it like that in memory of her. But his memory was so astute, he could find anything in here inside of a minute. He did laugh, though, whenever I got hopelessly muddled from time to time."

Naruto took a few steps inside, craning his neck around to get a better view of the place. Halfway down, he saw, was a large work table with a half dozen chairs unevenly spaced around it and several scrolls strewn about.

As he walked towards it in silence, he looked up and down shelves, marveling in the sheer variety of writings he found: cooking, kenjutsu, flower care… was there anything his father hadn't known anything about?

When he got closer to the table, though, he noticed a tightly-packed row of books, most of which were fictions of every kind, arranged alphabetically. With a snort, he saw a few of the Icha Icha series, all written by the great Sannin Jiraya before he was born. Somehow, with everything else in the room, those few books made everything that he had gone through that day seem almost normal.

"This is fucking amazing!" Hinata exclaimed. She caught herself cursing, something uncharacteristic of her, and everyone turned to her with a quizzical eye. She blushed and put her hands over her mouth. "I mean… um… I'll just be quiet for now, if that's ok?"

Everyone laughed, making the Hyuuga heiress blush all the more. "It's good to see that you're coming out of your shell, Hinata," said Honoka. "Who'd have thought that a mouth as pretty as that could be so dirty?"

Hinata looked up at the older girl, a sly smile on her face. "You'd be surprised," she said.

"Aaand that's the end of _that _line of thought," Naruto said hastily.

"Oh, really?" Honoka said, putting a hand on Naruto's head and ruffling his hair. "Afraid that Hinata might say something that'd embarrass ya?"

Naruto tried to swat her hand away, but she pulled it away before he could. "No!" he exclaimed, much to the amusement of the others, even Hinata. He sighed. "I'm not gonna win this one, am I?" he asked.

"Naruto," said Sarutobi, "in my experience, men almost never win these kinds of conversations."

"Damn," he said. "Anyway… is there anything else that you need to show us before you and Honoka leave?"

Sarutobi shook his head, the smile still on his lips. "No, no, that's about it." He gestured further down the room. "Over there is a door that leads to the chamber that contains the scroll that protects this land, but that's another room that only you can enter."

"Got it," said Naruto. "I'll take a look tomorrow, if only to understand it all better. For now, though, I just want to get situated and rest up. I'm still tired from yesterday, and I'm sure Hinata could use a break as well."

"It's true," she said. "I still ache from all that running we put in yesterday. A hot, long bath would do me some good."

"Don't I know it," said Honoka. "I know exactly how you feel, sweetie."

The Hokage lead them out of the Sanctum, through the hallway, and on up to the ground level of the house. "Before we leave," said Sarutobi, "I want you to attune Honoka-chan and I to the house. I will be sending her to get you for your missions on occasion, and should the need arise, I don't want the defenses to react to me."

"Not a problem," Naruto said with a shrug. He closed his eyes and concentrated, honing in on the little tickle in the back of his mind that he realized was the connection he had with the house's seal. With a shock, the connection completed with a snap, and he was instantly aware of—of _everything. _ He knew, without looking, where Hinata, Honoka, and Sarutobi were in relation to him. He knew the placement of every tree, bush, blade of grass on his property. Every movement by every squirrel, bird, or deer registered in his mind.

With a rush of blind thought he told the seal to acknowledge everyone in the room and give them full access where available. As soon as it was done, he broke the awareness the scroll gave him. As soon as he was disconnected, he stumbled to the side. Hinata caught him, worry on her face. "Naruto!" she exclaimed.

"I'm fine, fine," he mumbled as he righted himself. "That was just… it was a rush. I'll get used to it eventually." He looked at Sarutobi and Honoka. "You two are now fully safe here," he said. "Come and go as you please. But right now, I need to get some rest; that connection took a lot more out of me than I thought it would."

Sarutobi nodded. "I understand," he said. "Come on, Honoka. These two deserve a break." They exited the door, shutting it behind them, leaving Hinata and Naruto all alone, at last.

Hinata came up behind Naruto and wrapped her arms around his torso, lacing her fingers together, pressing herself against him. "So, Naruto," she said softly. Was it beginning to get warmer in the house? "How about that bath?"

Oh, yeah… Naruto was gonna _love _it here.

* * *

A/N: So, yeah, there we go. It was a pretty explanatory chapter, no action at all, though that's a good thing on occasion. We learned a few things, like where Naruto's parents lived, why it's important, and some more about his past.

Next chapter officially begins the next arc; brownie points if you can guess what it is. Seriously, at this point, it should be pretty obvious.

Tank, if you're reading this, call me bro.

Ok, that's pretty much it. Next chapter in a few weeks. Later, people. Yabba dabba do.


	16. Wave Goodbye

Well, here we are again. Less than a week ago, I posted the fifteenth chapter of Rising Star, and here I am with the sixteenth. As you know I am not really good with keeping deadlines, so this is, really, a huge shocker for me too.

Chapters will be coming in a lot more frequently from now on, now that I have a laptop to work with. On the flip side, they'll be a good bit shorter in length—this one is about half the usual word count. But it allows me to work faster, without worrying about getting that much content into one chappie. I'll see how that goes for now, but if it doesn't flow right, I'll go back to longer ones.

Nothing much to report right now. Oh, I juggled a girl's boobs yesterday. Highlight of my week so far. Yeah, it was a couple handfuls. Mighta given me some inspiration to write. Gonna ask her to the movies this weekend.

'Sides that, nothing much.

* * *

**Chapter 16**

_I love this fucking house, _Naruto thought lazily as the sun streamed in through the master bedroom window and played on his sheet-covered body. He lay stretched out on the king-sized bed, still waking up from yet another night of extremely restful sleep. If he didn't know any better, he might think that the bed had been enchanted, but the mattress was merely very, very comfortable.

He looked to his right, where Hinata usually slept, only to find it empty. He heard the shower running in the bathroom adjacent to the bedroom; as usual, she had risen before him. It wasn't that he was lazy… he just really, really liked the bed.

He sat up and swung his legs off the side, then walked over to the window and looked out. The rising sun shone gloriously through the trees, promising another beautiful day for the world. Naruto couldn't help but smile—he knew that he'd be looking at this view probably for the rest of his life, and looked forward to it with every iota of his being.

He looked at the dresser with the pictures of his parents from when they were a bit younger than they were when they died. These were the first pictures he'd ever owned of his parents, and they'd made an impression on him when he actually examined them.

He had seen photos of the Yondaime, of course, before he'd ever known they were blood. But with this perspective, the similarities they shared were obvious—their hair was almost identical, as were the eyes.

He owed some of his features, too, to his mother. Her face was slightly rounder than his, but nobody would have trouble believing that they were kin. He held her photograph in his hand, the cool wooden frame impressing slightly into his palms. This was the woman who'd given birth to him, and he knew almost nothing about her. Uzumaki Kushina… the woman he'd inherited his name from. He closed his eyes, burning her image into his brain. If nothing else, he wanted to remember her face. He vowed to one day learn her heritage, thus his. Until then, he had to create his own destiny and live for the moment.

"She was very beautiful," a murmured voice said behind him. Naruto turned his head to see Hinata with a towel wrapped around her hair and one around her torso… and nothing else. She hugged him from behind while looking around his shoulder, likewise looking at his mother. "And she does look an awful lot like you, Naruto-kun."

Naruto smiled as he set the photo down in its proper place and placed his hands on top of hers. "I know," he said. "I just wish I'd gotten a chance to really know her. One day, I'll learn the full story of her life. Until then, I'll have to make do."

She sighed, then disengaged herself from him. "I know," she said. She walked over to the closet and, after a few moments internal deliberation, picked out a blouse and a skirt. "I do hope you find out more, sweetie. I myself wouldn't mind knowing more, either." She pulled out a pair of panties from one dresser drawer and a bra from another, a matched pair of pale blue. Naruto's eyes were locked on her, and she knew it; it didn't take long for her to learn how to push his buttons _just _the way she wanted.

She turned her head toward him and smiled as she slowly dropped the towel on the floor, turned to lean on the dresser and lifted one leg to put her leg through the panties, then the other, and pulled them all the way up. "Help me with this?" she asked slyly, dangling the strapless bra from one finger.

Naruto grinned. "Why not?" he said as he stepped towards her. "Being part of the show is even more fun than just watching." He took the bra from her hands and positioned himself behind her. He put the cups over her breasts, but stopped when she grabbed his hand. "Something wrong?"

She sighed. "Honey," she said, exasperation in her tone. "It's upside down." She stepped away with it in her grasp. "Never send a man to do a woman's job."

Naruto laughed as he scratched his head in embarrassment. "I guess there's still some things I'm not good at yet," he said, his cheeks turning red.

She clasped it behind her back and pinched his cheek. "It's ok," she said with a warm smile. "You'll figure it out soon enough, if I have to train you every day for a year." She put on the rest of her wardrobe. "So, what are we doing today?" she asked as she put her shoes on.

Naruto shrugged. "Dunno," he said. "Haven't really thought about it much." In the three days that they'd lived there, they hadn't much left the house, except to go shopping for groceries and other much-needed house supplies in the late afternoon the day they had arrived. "I can cook us up some breakfast, if you want. We can figure it out from there."

"Hmm…That does sound good, but I have a better idea; how about we go into the village and get something to eat? I love your cooking, honestly, I do, but I just wanna get out for a while, you know?"

Naruto smiled. "I understand," he said. "I've got some cabin fever, too. It'll be nice to get out and stretch our legs, so to speak."

"Good," she said, and walked away to the bathroom to take care of her hair. After a moment, it hit Naruto: she'd gotten him to agree with her and get her way, and he didn't even realize it at the time. Damn, women were sneaky!

He got dressed—he'd taken a shower before they went to bed—while she was brushing out her hair. He decided to wear one of the outfits he'd bought before any of the madness that was now his current life had begun, the same day that he'd gotten his ear pierced. He threw on the black shirt with the flame on the front and the long black shorts with a pair of chains hanging down from the left side. He threw on a silver chain with a black pendent, and put the silver stud in his ear. All in all, he figured as he looked at himself in a mirror, he looked quite… not dashing, but striking.

"Ready when you are," Naruto called out as he slipped his wallet into his back pocket.

Hinata walked out of the bathroom, her hair totally dry and parted on her right. She'd put on hoop earrings, but left her slender neck unadorned. "Good to go, myself," she said as she took in Naruto's ensemble. "You look good," she said with a smile. "I'm glad I don't have to teach you to dress yourself as well."

Naruto sighed as he looked up to the ceiling for guidance, though of course he was on his own. "You're never gonna let me live that down, are you?" he asked, almost rhetorically.

Hinata laughed as she grabbed a purse, checked its contents, and slipped it over her shoulder. "Not a chance," she said with a twinkle in her eye. "But you love me anyway."

Naruto followed her out of the room and said, with a soft chuckle, "Yeah, I do. Don't know why, sometimes, but I do."

* * *

The village was already busy by the time they had arrived; it was market day on the main road, and carts loaded with produce, cuts of meat, fish, jewelry, and other odds and ends lined the road. A festival atmosphere permeated the air, and everywhere they went people were buying, selling, and bartering for the best price.

Hinata pulled him down a side street to a restaurant that had a good breakfast menu that she'd liked going to when they were still Academy students. It was little more than a diner, really, but she said the food was delicious and the service was excellent.

They quickly got a table, even as packed as it was. If Hinata's word didn't convince him of the quality there, just looking at some half-eaten plates on the way to their table locked him in. "What can I get for you today?" a young man in a half apron asked them, a notepad in his hand ready to take their order.

"I'll have an espresso to start with," said Hinata.

"Plain coffee for me," said Naruto. "We'll order in a few minutes."

The man nodded, then took another look at Hinata. "Oh, Hinata-chan!" he exclaimed, doing a double-take. "I almost didn't recognize you! It's been months, we were beginning to worry about you! I love what you did to your hair, it's gorgeous!"

Hinata smiled, pleased by the attention she was getting. "Thanks, Hibiki," she said with a warm smile. "I just decided to do something different with it, is all."

"Well, it suits you, darling," he said. "I'll be right over with your coffee, and I'll see if I can get the old bag to put your meal on the house, you know she loves you."

"Thanks, Hibiki-kun," she said. "That's sweet of you."

"Not a problem, not a problem, sugar," he said. "And who's this handsome young man of yours?"

Naruto blushed; he wasn't used to getting this kind of attention from guys. "This is Uzumaki Naruto, my teammate, and boyfriend," she said.

Hibiki's mouth opened in an O. "This is _the _Naruto? I heard a few days ago that he told your father off so hard that he ran away crying!"

"It wasn't quite like that," said Naruto dryly. "Though that would have been really, _really _cool. I did tell him off, but there was no crying; but speechless? I did a ton of that, believe it!"

Hibiki beamed at the pair. "I like this boy already!" he said. "Wait till I tell mom we have a celebrity out here, she'll flip like a pancake!" He walked away, leaving a wake of people excitedly talking behind them. Apparently, several tables heard his exclamation, as more than a few people turned their heads to look at Naruto and Hinata.

"Sooo…" Naruto drawled. "What was that all about?"

Hinata smiled, a little embarrassed. "Before I really knew you," she said, "before all this started… I would sometimes come in here when I was depressed. Hibiki and his mom—Sanya, she runs the place—they took care of me. They were some of the first people I really opened up to, and became like family to me."

"And… Hibiki?" Naruto asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Hinata wagged a finger. "Don't even start," she said. "It's not too hard to figure out, but if I have to spell it out… Um… His kunai doesn't… swing… that way."

Naruto snorted. "Wha—he's gay?"

Hinata pointed a stern finger at him. "Naruto, I don't wanna hear it," she barked. "Hibiki's a really nice guy, he's like a big brother to me, and I don't want to have to make his mom mad by blasting you through that chair."

Naruto held up his hands. "Hey, hey, that's not a problem," he said. "I don't care if he's into guys or girls. Hell, he could think sheep are cute and I wouldn't care. I was just…" He sighed. "I just notice sometimes how other boys our age look at you, and it irks me is all."

Hinata laughed quietly. "Naruto, were you jealous because of something like _that_?"

"No! Not jealous!" he exclaimed. "Just a little—ok, ok, maybe just a _little _bit jealous. Happy?"

"Very," she said. "Oh, here comes Hibiki."

The boy set the coffees down in front of them. "There you go, sugar," he said to here. "And here you go. Sugar?" He held up packets of sugar, smiling as his play on words registered with Naruto.

Naruto laughed, grinning. He was finding it hard not to like this guy. "Yes, please, three. I like it extra sweet. No cream, though."

"Got it," Hibiki said, handing him the sugar packets. "Now, what will you have to eat?"

"I'll have… Um…"

"He'll have a big short stack with a side of bacon, scrambled eggs, hash browns, and sausage links," Hinata said. "He's a big eater, so don't skimp. I'll take the chocolate chip waffles with blueberry syrup, scrambled eggs—extra cheese on top—and a raspberry scone."

Hibiki laughed as he wrote it all down. "Sure thing, hon," he said. "The longer you know her," he said to Naruto, "the more you know, she always knows exactly what she wants."

"Don't I know it," Naruto said ruefully.

Hinata was close enough to him to punch him in the arm. She punched him in the arm.

"Ow!" Naruto exclaimed, half in jest. "What was that for?"

"For being a man!" she said, smiling. "Now, shut up and drink your coffee."

He sighed as he ripped open the sugar packets. "I never manage to win, do I?" he said to nobody in particular.

* * *

"That… was… delicious," Naruto said as they left the restaurant, his hand on his fully satisfied belly. After the first plate of pancakes, he'd ordered another, trimmings and all, and was afraid that he'd overdone it.

"I told you," Hinata said. "This is the best breakfast place in Konoha."

True to Hibiki's word, the meal had been free, but Naruto planned to patronize the place at least once a week for an experience like that. "I totally believe it," he said. "Hibiki's really nice, too. I hope I can meet his mom soon. Hell, maybe she can give me some cooking lessons."

Hinata laughed. "You're good, Naruto-kun," she said. "But you've got a long way to go before you're quite _that _good."

Naruto smiled. "We'll see," he said. "Till then, what else do you wanna do today?"

Hinata hummed. "Well, I wouldn't mind going to get some new books," she said. "All of my old ones were left at my… the Hyuuga compound." Naruto thought she had been about to say "my family's home", but he knew that she was trying her hardest to mentally distance herself from them, especially her father.

"Sounds good," he said, pretending not to notice her near-slip. "Any place in particular?"

"Let's just window shop right now, and see about it later," she said. "Come on, when's the last time you really just explored Konoha and took it all in?"

Naruto shrugged. "It's been a while. Let's see how it's been doing without me," he said, smiling.

They spent the next few hours browsing through shops, mostly going into curio stores, looking at trinkets. Naruto bought Hinata a butterfly hairpin, which she loved. She, in turn, purchased a necklace with what was advertised as a coyote head, although it took no stretch of the imagination to picture it as a fox. In another store, they got some incense and a few candles for their room.

It wasn't long before they found themselves walking by the flower shop that the Yamanakas owned. "Hey! Hinata! Naruto!" they heard someone call out from inside. They turned their heads to see Ino inside, watering some blooms.

"Hi, Ino," Hinata said as she walked in, Naruto in tow.

"Hey," Naruto said.

"Where the heck have you two been all this time?" she asked, putting the pail down and wiping her damp hands on her smock. "It's been two months since I've seen the two of you, Sasuke, too."

"Er—we just got back from an escort mission a few days ago," Naruto said, spouting the lie that they had been asked to perpetrate. "No big deal, but the client lived a long way away, near the edge of Fire country."

Ino nodded, buying it. "I heard," she said, excitement in her eyes, "that you threatened to kill Hyuuga Hiashi to his face, Naruto. Please tell me, is that true?"

Naruto laughed. "Not in so many words, no," he said. "I told him I would punch him if he didn't go away and leave me alone, but that's about it."

"Wow. That takes some stones." She shook her head. "What were you thinking? Do you want to get into trouble with the Hyuuga clan?"

"No, he won't," said a voice from behind Ino. She turned around to see her father come in from the back room, a bouquet of yellow roses held in his arms.

"He won't?" said Ino, her eyes quizzing her father as much as her words. "What do you mean?"

Inoichi smiled at his daughter. "The Hyuuga council won't touch him, for various reasons. Suffice it to say, he's politically immune right now." He handed a slip of paper to his daughter, along with the flowers. "An order just came in, deliver these, please."

She took the roses and paper and sighed. "Just when things were getting interesting around here," she grumbled.

"Don't worry, Ino," said Hinata reassuringly. "I'll be back again soon."

"You better!" she said with a laugh. "We have got _so _much to talk about."

She left, leaving Naruto and Hinata alone with Inoichi. "Sir," Naruto said carefully. "What did you mean by politically immune, exactly?"

Inoichi cast his eyes outside the window. "Come back here, please," he said, opening the door to the back part of the store.

Naruto and Hinata eyed each other. Neither knew what he wanted, though it wasn't too hard to guess. They had to tread carefully.

Inoichi closed the door behind them, though didn't lock it. He stood away from them for a moment, contemplating them, sizing them up. After a moment, he said, "I'm not one much for cloak and dagger bull shit." He looked away. "Naruto, I know who your parents are—were. Minato and Kushina were good people, and good friends."

"Ho—how do you know that?" Naruto asked, sideswiped by his question.

He sighed. "Uzumaki? Not exactly a very common family name around here," he said. "Kushina was the only one in the village that I knew of. Last time I saw her, she was very pregnant. Not long after, the Kyuubi escapes and tears apart the village, and it was put into you. It might not've been obvious back then, but looking at you now—you look just like her…except for your eyes. You have your father's eyes."

Naruto looked to the side. "Why bring this up now?" he asked. "How long have you known, for a fact?"

"Since very soon after you and my daughter began studying to be a ninja," Inoichi said. "She was yelling something about a prank you pulled on Uchiha Sasuke."

Naruto grinned. "Was it the one with the water balloons?" he asked.

Inoichi smiled, but shook his head wryly. "No… I think It might've been the one with the paint set in his lunch box."

"Haha, I almost forgot about that one," Naruto laughed.

"In any case," Inoichi said, smiling, "I want you to know… If you ever invoke the name of your father in front of the Council, I, as the head of the Yamanaka clan, will have your back."

"I—thank you, Inoichi-san," Naruto said. "I honestly don't plan on getting into the political game, I'm just not that good with crowd control. But it's good to know that a leader as respected as you has my back should worse come to worse."

The Yamanaka nodded. "There's more of us than you think," he said. "I know for a fact that the Akimichi, the Aburame… hell, even the Inuzuka would support you. We all owe your father and mother so much for what they've done for the village in years past, the sacrifices they made."

"What about my mother?" Naruto asked. This was a chance he'd been waiting for, something about the other half of his genes. "I don't know much about her, at all. Every time I ask Sarutobi-sama about her, he gets a little evasive."

Inoichi frowned. "Really? You honestly don't know?" He cursed under his breath. "I think you need to have a good, hard conversation with the Hokage. No," he said, holding up a hand to stop Naruto from asking another question. "It's not my place to tell. This is not my story. But I don't think that, whatever you've been told, is the complete truth."

"What are you talking about, Inoichi-san?" Naruto barked. "What truth? What games are being played?"

The long-haired blond sighed. "Just… sit him down and talk to him. And don't let him wiggle out of it. If he doesn't give you what you want, ask your sensei, Kakashi was there when it happened. He was Minato's student, once, you know."

"We know," said Hinata. "And he was the Sannin Jiraya's pupil, who was the student of Sarutobi, who was the student of the Shodaime and Nidaime Hokages, right?"

"That's right," Inoichi said. "You two—and Sasuke—have some heavy legacies to follow, in your own way."

"So I've been hearing," Naruto said, a growl just escaping his words. "But I need to know that my other half of my legacy is before I'm satisfied." He took a deep breath, then let it out. "Thank you for your support," Naruto said again. "We'll—we'll be going now."

"As you wish," Inoichi said. He followed them to the front door of the shop. "Oh, Hinata, wait a minute," he said.

She turned toward him. "Yes?"

In Inoichi's hands was a pale lilac, nearly the same color as her eyes. "Take this," he said. "Ino once mentioned that you like flower pressing; do as you wish with this."

Hinata brought the petals to her nose and inhaled. "It's beautiful," she murmured. "Thank you, Inoichi-san."

"Think nothing of it," the older man said. "It's a common enough flower, but it suits you."

They bid their farewells, Naruto and Hinata leaving the flower shop behind and walking the same way they had been going before they had been interrupted. They walked in silence, each thinking about what Inoichi had said to them.

"Naruto?" Hinata said, softly so only he could hear in the crowd that surrounded them. "Are you ok?"

He sighed, shoulders slumped. "I think so," he said as he lifted his head. "I will be."

"Where are we going? Are you going to go see the Hokage?"

Naruto shook his head. "No," he said. "Whatever he says right now might not be the whole truth. I'm sorry to admit it, but right now, about this, I don't think we can trust him completely." He set his jaw and flexed it, grinding his teeth together. "No, I'm going to talk to the only person who can give me the whole story, who has to answer me."

"Who?"

Naruto looked her in the eyes. "I think it's time me and Sando had another chat."

* * *

Naruto sat in the middle of the small bedroom that was across the hall from the one he and Hinata shared. By his request, he was alone; he didn't want her to be dragged into the trance with him, as could sometimes happen when one of the Sanseirei were agitated when they contacted their mask's inhabitants.

His legs crossed, he began to slow his breathing until he appeared to be asleep. Within moments, he'd established the trance that accessed him to the mental field that all three of them could penetrate at will.

He opened his eyes to see the library that Sando had set for the default setting for their interactions. "Sando!" he called out loud. "Are you awake? I need to talk to you for a while, if you don't mind."

The demon materialized in the chair opposite the one he found himself in. "Hey, Naruto," he said. "Long time no see."

"Yeah," Naruto replied. "Sorry about that; Hinata and I just moved into my father's home a few days ago, and we've been pretty busy getting situated."

Sando froze, just for an instant. "I see," he said slowly. "And… how are you getting on?"

"Oh, you know how it is whenever you move. Everywhere you turn, you learn something else about the place that you didn't before. For instance, just this morning, I learned that someone, or a pair of someones, have been keeping something from me, or even outright lying. You have any idea what I might be talking about?"

Sando sighed, leaning forward slightly and propping his elbows on his knees. "I might…" he said, trailing off.

"…"

"…"

"_Well?" _Naruto exclaimed.

"Well what?" Sando said. "I can't answer a question unless you ask it. I'm sure that Sarutobi's been keeping a few things from you at this point. How the hell could I know what goes on inside his mind?"

Naruto banged his closed fist on the wood of the chair. "Damn it, Sando!" he shouted. "Don't play dumb with me, you're better than that! Just tell me about my mother!"

"Your… mother? Well, let's see… she came to this village when she was young, was talented with sealing jutsu, had some amazing red hair, was kind of chubby when she was a kid, possessed one hell of a temper—"

"Stop fucking around! What aren't you telling me? What's the big secret? Why does the Hokage turn the subject every time I ask about her? What was her significance, besides being my mother? Just tell me, Sando, who, _who _was Uzumaki Kushina?"

Sando stood up, momentarily startling Naruto. He left the boy to walk down an aisle of the library. "Hey!" Naruto shouted after him. "Where are you going?" He got up to follow the demon dog, but before he could take more than a step, Sando returned, a small scroll in hand. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed it to Naruto, who caught it.

"What's this?" Naruto asked; inside the dream realm, none of the scrolls were labeled.

"Open it," Sando said. "Your father, before he disposed of me… he asked me not to say a word to you about your mother, nothing of any significance. He left a huge loophole, one much too wide, this place being what it is, by not forbidding me to let you find out for yourself."

Naruto looked up at him, then the scroll. "Is that oath enforceable?" he asked.

Sando shook his head. "There's no geas on me, if that's what you're wondering. But when I make a promise, I follow it to the letter. Not always, though, to the word. Open the scroll, Naruto. And don't call for me until you think you can calm down."

"Calm down? What do you mea—" It was too late; Sando had already faded out.

_Damn it,_ Naruto thought as he thumbed open the scroll paper. _I hate it when he does that._

He looked at the top of the scroll as he unfurled it. As he recognized some of the words, his blood ran cold and his face grew pale. "No… no…" he said, his voice strained. He pulled it down more frantically, not even reading anything in the middle; in knew, he _knew _what Sando wanted him to see, and where it was.

At the very end of the scroll, in the last entry, was the few words that would change Naruto's life forever. Inside his head he wailed, the sound carrying to every corner of the spectral library.

* * *

"Naruto… Naruto, wake up…"

He opened his eyes groggily. He was slumped over, cradled in Hinata's arms as she supported his weight. "Naruto, I heard you yell. Are you all right?"

Tears rolled down his eyes in sorrow. He buried his face in her chest, looking for solace that he didn't think could be found there. "My—my mother," he gasped, his breath getting his words choked up and staggered.

"Shhh… shhh… it's all right, Naruto," she cooed softly as she stroked his hair, slowly, evenly. "Whatever it is, it's all right, nothing is going to happen to you, you're safe now, I promise."

Naruto knew that he was staining her shirt with his tears, but he didn't care, and neither did she. It was her turn to play the role of the protector. "My m-mother," he said more quietly. "She…" He couldn't say what he needed to say.

"Don't worry about it, baby," she said, continuing her stroking. "Just relax, let it out, I'm here for you, I promise, nothing can happen to you."

"It's t-too late," he sobbed. "Something happened and n-nothing I can do can take it back."

"Nothing can change the past, sweetie," she said softly into his ear. "But we can't let our memories haunt us, hurt us."

Naruto turned his tear-stained eyes to meet hers. "H-Hinata," he said. "My mother… she was the last jinchūriki for the Kyuubi. She… she killed everyone on my birthday."

* * *

Hinata had dragged Naruto to the kitchen table and made him a cup of coffee. She knew, from experience, that wallowing in depression could never lead to recovery. "Are you ok, Naruto-kun?" she asked as she put the sugar in the brew, focusing on the small menial task.

"I'm—I don't know," he said somberly as he took the mug from her and sipped gingerly. "I just never even really thought about my predecessors. Who they were, what they'd done… what they'd gone through…" He shook his head, trying to clear it. "It's a pretty big shock. Sorry for blanking out like that." He smiled at his lover. "Thanks for taking care of me."

She sat next to him and took one of his hands in hers. "For all the times you've been my shoulder to cry on," she said, "it was only right for you to cry on mine."

It hadn't exactly been her shoulder he's cried on, but he didn't point that out. Her shirt's front still had his tear stains on it. "I know," he said, then took another sip. "Mmm… this is good," he said. "Where did you say this roast came from again?"

"Tea country. It's expensive, but worth it."

Naruto sighed contentedly as he inhaled the steam emanating from the cup. "It's not like we have to worry about money, anyway," he said. "The bills take care of themselves, we have almost unlimited bank accounts… All we have to worry ourselves with is making the most of what free time we have."

Suddenly, his awareness of the property kicked in; he sensed Honoka entering the grounds, and she was in a hurry. Hinata saw the expression on his face, and knew it for what it was. "Who's coming?" she asked.

"Honoka-chan," he said, "and I don't think it's a social call."

They were at the door just when Honoka knocked on it. Hinata opened it and ushered her inside. "What's going on?" she asked the ANBU officer.

Honoka's jaw was set. "The Hokage has an emergency mission for you," she said. "Both of you. A team of ANBU are out right now recovering Sasuke from Training Ground 44."

"Wait, what's going on?" Naruto asked. "I thought we had a two week vacation!"

Honoka shook her head. "I'm sorry, but it has to be cut short. We have a delicate situation right now, and the Hokage believes, for whatever reason, you can pull it off. I'll be the Jounin accompanying you; this is an official mission, on the books."

"What's the situation?" Hinata asked, more calmly than Naruto.

"A mission went badly. One hour ago, we received a message from a summoned messenger bird that Team Kurenai had been ambushed by an S-class nuke-nin, on what was supposed to be a simple escort mission. Gather what gear you have, and pack for an extended mission; we're going to the Land of Waves."

* * *

A/N: There you have it; Naruto learns the truth about his mother. How will this affect him, so soon after he has to go on a mission? Will he still be the same old Naruto after this revelation? When he sees the Hokage next, what will he do?

I don't know… but damn, it'll be fun to write.

Peace, bitches.

Read and review, please.


	17. Through the Waves

A/N: Wow. The third chapter put up in two weeks. As one reviewer would put it, "Fuck me sideways." I honestly can't believe I'm this efficient lately. It might have something to do with the laptop that's almost always by my side, or the complete lack of a real social life. Whatever the contributing factor, I'm really on my game lately.

This is another shortish chapter. I think this is how it's gonna be from now on, unless something really big happens. I just seem to be more comfortable like this, without the pressure of writing a 10k+ word chapter every time. I can do 5ks three times ever two weeks, a formula that works for me.

Not much going on in the city today… a whole lot of nothing, honestly. It's cold and dreary right now (at least it was an hour ago, last time I checked. I'm in the mall here, taking advantage of the free WiFi). I just got a call from my grandmother, who is now, in her words, a "biker bitch." She married a man who is, apparently, a biker, but aside from all that is a pretty decent dude.

It's my birthday next Friday. I'll be 22, and I'm looking forward to it. I'm not much of a big drinker, but I think I'll go to a bar I like that night.

That's all, people. Read on, and please, review if you liked it, or didn't. I don't care, but feedback one way or another is always welcome.

* * *

**Chapter 17**

"Wait, wait, what?" Naruto shouted. "What happened to Kurenai? Kiba, Shino, Sakura? Why do they need rescuing? Are they injured, held hostage? What kind of force are we facing? And most of all—why us?"

"Doesn't the ANBU have a hostage retrieval squad for situations like this?" Hinata asked. "Everyone keeps saying how strong we've gotten, how good we are—but this is way above our heads! We'd need Kakashi-sensei to go with us, he's the strongest ninja in the village, except for maybe the Hokage himself! We need to wait for him to get back before we do anything—"

"He's still on his mission, and we can't reach him in time to do any good," Honoka interrupted. "He's on a joint intelligence-gathering mission with the Grass in the land of Lightening. By the time we can get word to him—interrupting an operation that's been almost a year in the making, by the way, and possibly jeopardizing his and his team's lives—Team 10 could be dead, and it would all have been for nothing."

"Yeah, but…"

Honoka slammed her foot, the impact reverberating around the room. "No buts!" she shouted. "We don't have time for this kind of shit!" she shouted. Naruto and Hinata stepped backwards unconsciously; this woman was very, very intimidating when she lost her temper. "Every minute you stand here bickering is another minute we lose! No, I don't know why the Hokage assigned you three to this cluster-fuck, but orders are orders and we just have to trust in his judgment! I know your little vacation was seriously cut short, and I'm sorry—I've been there a few times myself—but that's just life, and in life you have to do things you don't want to do, especially in our line of work. Just—just grow up, ok? You aren't kids anymore, not after all you've been through." She stared hard at Naruto and Hinata. "Now, get your shit together, man up, and let's go rescue your friends… or do you _want _them to die?"

Naruto couldn't speak, he was so ashamed. "I thought not," Honoka said. "You have twenty minutes to get your act together. We aren't going to the Hokage's office, we don't have the time. We leave from here and get right on the ball; I'll give you all the details on the way. Nineteen minutes, fifty seconds…"

As one, they ran to the master bedroom and quickly grabbed their packs that they kept on standby. They double-checked them, making sure that they had their standard two sets of clothes, emergency first aid kit, and extra rations.

They changed their clothes to what they had decided would be their standard gear: Black trousers, skintight high-density mesh tops over black long-sleeved shirts and black boots with black socks. Stealth was one of the most important things in their line of work, and their wardrobe would let them operate extremely effectively at night.

As an afterthought, no knowing how long they would be our or what the exact situation would be, Naruto threw in an extra set of kunai and shuriken, besides the one he strapped to his thigh.

They turned to leave the room, but Naruto stopped just short. "Did you forget something?" Hinata asked over her shoulder.

"Yeah, actually," Naruto said. He returned to the room and opened a drawer. He pulled out an odd-looking kunai, one with three prongs and a tag with a seal attached to the end. He'd never seen anything like it before, and he'd yet to come across it in Sando's memory library. After a moment's deliberation, he decided to take it with him, just in case he could find a use for it. He put it in his bum pouch with the shuriken, then turned to leave the room and rejoined Hinata. "Let's go," he said, turning off the light and closing the door.

"Six minutes to spare," Honoka said when they rejoined her, without looking at any clock. For some reason neither Hinata nor Naruto was surprised that she had an internal watch. "We're meeting Sasuke by the gate, and then we're out of here. It should have only take less than half an hour for ANBU to find him and bring him up to speed, but he still needs to go to his home and get himself prepared. I'd say we have about eighteen minutes before he gets to the gate, and it takes fourteen for us to get there from here. Get something to eat; we won't be taking a break for a good while."

They nodded, and then set out to the kitchen to make some quick sandwiches, which they bolted down without ceremony. "Let's go," said Naruto when they had finished, Honoka watching them the whole time.

Within seconds they were out the door, Honoka on point, Naruto to her left and behind her, Hinata to the right. Following her lead, they leapt into the trees and rebounded off of the large, sturdy branches, sailing over trees, traveling twice as fast this way as they would on the ground. In only a short time they had cleared the boundaries of the land that was Naruto's property, and Naruto sensed the connection he shared with it fade and, eventually, disappear.

They reached the village proper, but didn't slow down; from treetop to rooftop they bounced, making haste to the main gates to the east of the village.

When they arrived, nobody was surprised to see what appeared to be two four-man squads of ANBU standing with the lone Konoha Uchiha. Apparently, they'd located him faster than Honoka had anticipated. He was already dressed identically to his comrades, his travel pack snugly strapped onto his back.

"You're fast," Honoka remarked as she landed gracefully near him, Hinata and Naruto just a split second after her.

"Didn't feel like wasting any time," Sasuke replied. He looked none the worse for wear for spending three days in the infamous Forest of Death.

"Good," said Honoka. "We'll fill you in on the way out. Do you have everything you need?" When he nodded, she turned to Naruto and Hinata. "You two ready?"

Naruto shook his head in affirmation. "Yeah," he said.

"Yes," replied Hinata.

Honoka looked up at the gatekeepers in the wall's tower positions. "Open up," she called out. The twin doors emblazoned with the symbol for "fire" creaked open until it was wide enough to exit. She sped out, the Sanseirei close behind her. They almost immediately leapt into the gigantic trees that surrounded the village for miles and miles around, the perfect travel rout for shinobi on the run.

"Here's the situation as we know it," Honoka said to the three ninja as they found their lines behind and around her. "Team 10, lead by Yuuhi Kurenai, was assigned a C-class mission to escort the bridge builder from Wave country, Tazuna, safely back home. It was considered a low-risk mission, so Sarutobi assigned it as the first out-of-country assignment for the cell.

"Along the way, they were attacked by two nuke-nin from Kiri. They were defeated, but not before they could poison Inuzuka Kiba. Unfortunately, there was no antidote on either of the two assailants. Aburame Shino's insects managed to draw out most of the poison, preventing any lasting damage, but not before a small portion managed to get deep enough into his system. He started having trouble breathing, and could not exert himself without going into coughing fits.

"By the time they had reached the border of Wave country, Kiba was too weak to walk completely by himself, so Haruno Sakura had to spend a great deal of time and energy helping him walk. At this point, an S-class nuke-nin from Kiri, apparently the commander of the previous brigands, ambushed them. Kurenai told Kiba and Sakura to hide, and assigned Shino to guard Tazuna while she confronted the assailant, Momochi Zabuza. In the course of their fight, she'd managed to damage him with her genjutsu-based attacks, but was not able to deliver a killing blow. She was blind-sided by a second shinobi, someone wearing the mask of the Mist's ANBU. He pierced her with senbon in several key pressure points, removing her ability to control her body. She fell unconscious, but had already done what she set out to do—cast one of her trademarked genjutsu that attacks the psyche, sending him into shock.

"Before this second attacker could kill Kurenai, however, Shino attacked with a swarm of his beetles. The second assailant grabbed Zabuza and his sword and retreated.

"Shino and Sakura took Kurenai, Kiba, and Tazuna to the designated rendezvous point that he had predetermined, and crossed the strait to the land of Waves. Currently, they are in Tazuna's home, where they are at least moderately safe. But should Zabuza recover, neither Shino nor Sakura will have what it takes to defend all three of their charges from harm, especially if Zabuza has more men at his disposal."

She stopped talking for a moment. "That's all we know right now. We still don't know why Zabuza would target the bridge-builder, but more than likely he's been hired by someone else to take a contract out on his head. If pressed, Sakura and Shino would fight, but against a ninja of his caliber, they wouldn't stand a chance. They would die, with nothing to show for it.

"We have three goals once we reach the land of Waves: Infiltrate without encountering enemy agents. Find our people. Withdraw safely. Whatever is going on there, Tazuna lied about it. The village's contract with him is officially null and void. When extraction is assured, we will leave. Our people are our main priority. We will not—I repeat, we will _not _—go looking for trouble. This isn't black op, but we need to make as little noise as possible. Do you get me?"

"We get you sir!" they chorused. Nobody laughed, though it was a little bit of an inside joke from when they were still studying at the ANBU base.

"Good," she said. "Now shut up and keep moving. We have about seven hours until we get to Wave. We'll break in four, rest an hour, and then travel on. Till then, just focus on your feet."

Conversation subsequently ceased; Naruto knew that even he, with all of his stamina, would need to conserve his energy if he wanted to be fit for the mission. _Hold on guys, _he thought grimly. _We're coming.

* * *

_

Several hours and one break later, well after night had fallen and brought a sharp chill to the air, the four-man squad arrived at the point indicated in Kurenai's message, a small stream about a mile inland. A man was sitting in a boat tethered to a tree, nervously looking around, wringing his hands together. He looked uncomfortable, as if he'd been sitting there for hours.

The four Konoha shinobi appeared from the trees, revealing themselves to the man. He gave a start; the shadowy figures framed in half-moonlight must've scared him. "Calm down," Honoka said, holding up a hand. "We're from Konoha. Are you our contact?"

The man nodded, standing up in the boat. "Yeah, yeah," he said, an edge in his voice. "I'm Honda, one of the laborers on the bridge. Tazuna hoped you would come, but didn't expect you to get here this fast. Your village is a long way off after all."

"We have our ways," Naruto said, purposefully leaving it ambiguous. "It's your job to lead us to your town, right?"

Honda nodded his head at the young man. "That's right. I know these waterways best around here. Once we leave the river, I can find currents that'll take us to the shore, without making too much noise with the engine here." He indicated the motor at the back of the boat; it looked so old, Naruto wondered how it could still keep running. Silently, he thanked the gods it wouldn't be on in the open waters—it probably made a racket.

"You know why we're here," Honoka said to Honda. "Our contract with Tazuna is null and void, as it was made under false pretenses. We're here only to retrieve our comrades. Whatever else is going on is not our problem. Understand?"

Honda closed his eyes and winced. "Y—yeah, I understand." He gulped. "I'm sorry for what he did, but he only did so because he had to. You don't… you don't know what it's like here, what we've been through lately." He sighed, indicating the boat. "Get in, and we'll get on our way, and you can go home." The boarded the boat, stepping carefully so as not to tip it. Honda started the motor and untied it from its moorings, and they sped down the water.

When they approached the mouth of the stream, Honda killed the engine, letting the moderate current propel them instead. When they reached the sea, he turned the tiller hard to the right. "There's some very unique currents in this part of the country," he explained in a slightly hushed voice. "Rock formations underwater divert and direct water from several streams from the coast, and there are two underground rivers that emerge right under the shore. Nobody knows how they formed like that, but some think it's got something to do with ancient volcanic formations. If you know what you're doing, you can get all the way from here to the shore without any kind of propulsion, save for the tiller itself."

"I think I remember hearing about that once," Naruto said. "But didn't this place used to have something else?"

Honda nodded. "You're right," he said. "In this area, more to the north of us, there was a long chain of whirlpools. They protected the shinobi village there, but something happened, and they all just vanished. Soon after, it was destroyed. Now, the Whirlpool village was one of the main sources of income for this country—the seals created there were unparalleled in all the lands, and the sales of some of them generated a lot of revenue, on top of the regular shinobi work. With that all gone, the economy here collapsed. There wasn't even enough to run the government. Imagine it, an entire governing body destroyed because they couldn't pay themselves." Honda shook his head. "Since then, the country has been renamed, from Whirlpool to Wave. We all are doing our best to forget those days… but it's hard.

"In the past fourteen years, this land has become a haven for criminals, seeing as there's no police force or military to speak of. We do all that we can to survive, but it's just not enough. That's why we're building the bridge—if we can complete it, get a solid link to the mainland, we know, we just _know, _things will be all right. Trade can continue, our natural resources can be mined, our fertile soil can be commercially farmed." He looked Naruto in the eye. "We're dying, Shinobi-san. We have just one small hope of reviving the corpse that is now Wave. But…"

"But?" prompted Honoka, who'd gotten caught up in Honda's tale.

Honda sighed and looked away. "Recently, a criminal boss has taken root here in Wave. His headquarters is about ten miles from my town, and he rules with an iron fist. Our bridge is almost done, has been almost done for months now. But if it is complete, soon order will come back to us, and we'll have a set government again. If that happens, he can't get away with his criminal schemes with impunity anymore. Those shinobi that took out your comrades were hired by him to kill Tazuna. That's why he hired them."

"But not for the job they were told," Honoka pointed out.

"I know!" barked Honda. "But we're a poor people. Do you know how much he had to scrape and scavenge just to get enough money to get there, let alone hire your team for the escort mission? I swear, we tried to talk him out of it, but once his mind is made up, it's made up. He's just so god-damned stubborn!"

"That's no excuse to put people's lives in danger," said Sasuke. "Whatever happens to our people is his fault, and he will be held accountable."

Honda winced. "What do you mean? Accountable?"

"He means nothing," Honoka interjected. "Sasuke, that's not how these things work. A client is a client, no matter the situation. Our contract is void, but we can't—and won't—seek retribution for his lies. That doesn't mean, however, that we'll help any further. Good people were hurt because of him, and it's our job to make sure that nothing else happens to them. Like I said—your problems are now your problems."

Honda looked over the side of the boat, steering in the invisible currents. "I understand," he said. "If I thought it would help, I'd apologize. But I doubt it would."

"No," said Honoka softly. "It wouldn't."

The rest of the time passed in silence as Honda navigated the craft until shore was sighted. "Land ho," he said quietly. "This is where we have to be cautious. You never know if one of Gato's goons is watching the waters at any time. There's a secret inlet I know that will let us slip in without trouble, but we still have to be careful. From here on out, nobody says anything, period."

The squad of shinobi nodded, taking his orders to heart. Stealth was the most important trait of any good ninja, and they all knew the risks.

Slowly but surely, criss-crossing a couple times to keep with the currents, they made their way to the shore. Naruto knew that they'd get there a lot faster if they just walked on water, but that would create too much noise, and that wasn't a risk they could afford to take. Eventually the boat nestled in a natural split in a rocky cliff. Honda moved to the bow of the boat and used the oar at the bottom of it to push off of the rock walls, ensuring that they wouldn't crash into either side as the ingoing current pushed them ever onward.

"We're good," Honda said when they bumped gently into a sandy beach in the rocks. "Quickly, come with me. The village is only about ten minutes away from here on foot. Gato doesn't send his people out this way, so you can relax now."

"Are you taking us to see our people now?" Honoka asked as she shrugged her pack back on and buckled it over her chest.

"Yeah," Honda said, nodding in the faint moonlight. "They're with Tazuna and his family. Believe me, it's pretty much the safest place for them right now."

Honoka nodded, taking him at his word. "Let's hurry," she said. "I want to be out of here as soon as possible."

Without an answer, Honda burst into a run, inviting the others to join him with a hand wave over his shoulder. They quickly caught up and maintained the pace easily; in fact, by their standards, they were going quite slow. But they needed him to guide him to the right house, so they tolerated it.

They didn't go on a road or trail; instead, they slipped through a grove of trees. Honda seemed to know the area well, dodging through massive tree trunks with expertise based on experience. Team Kakashi kept pace with him, though, letting their eyes and feet do all of the work, not consciously making decisions. Split-second decisions were skills drilled into them with hours of practice from Kakashi, and it was paying off in dividends.

Soon, they reached the edge of a village, where Honda slowed to a stop. He was breathing heavily, but didn't appear winded. Obviously, he wasn't a stranger to hard work. "This… huff… this way to Tazuna's," he said, pointing down the road. "All the way down, last house in front of you. Probably… huff… the only house with the lights still on."

"You're not coming?" Honoka asked.

"No; my wife is worried enough about me. I don't need to keep her waiting any longer than I already have. I wouldn't be able to leave with you lot right now anyway… the currents are flowing in the wrong way. When the tide goes out, there are some that go back to the mainland. Till then, I have to get home."

"When is that going to be?" Honoka asked.

"Tomorrow? About seven in the morning is the best bet," said Honda.

Honoka nodded. "Got it. See you then." She turned to her team. "Come on," she said.

The Sanseirei followed he down the dark, unlit street. Just as Honda has predicted, every light was off of every house they could see, save for one at the very end of the road. "That's the place," Naruto said softly. Honoka picked up the pace. "What's the plan?" Naruto asked her.

"Direct," she said.

"Not much of a plan," he said, looking at her.

"It's not much of a mission," she shot back at him. "It's just one big cluster-fuck after another. There is no way this mission should have been approved. It's impossible that Konoha intelligence didn't know about the problems around here. That a rookie team was sent out to this country…"

Naruto stopped dead. "No…" he whispered. "That can't be…"

Hinata and Sasuke looked at each other. What was going on with him?

"Can't be what, Naruto?" Hinata asked.

Naruto set his jaw. "Noth—we'll talk later, after the situation is assessed," he said. "Let's just get this over with.

Honoka looked sideways at Naruto as he sidled up to her. "What's going through your mind, kid?" she asked.

Naruto stared straight ahead. "Nothing that can't wait. Let's just get to our people and see how they're holding up." They could all tell that he was seething, though. The killing intent was raining off of him.

"Tone it down, dobe," Sasuke said. "I can feel you from here."

Naruto took a deep breath, and let it out. Getting angry here and now wouldn't solve anything. "Got it," he grumbled.

They soon reached the house. Scant seconds after Honoka knocked on the front door it was opened by a woman of about Kakashi's age. She seemed taken aback, but didn't ask any questions. "Thank god you're here," she said, worry etched deeply on her features. "The woman—Kurenai—she's still unconscious, and the boy with the dog is sweating so fiercely, he won't stop. We've done what we can, but there aren't any doctors around who can help."

She lead them inside, closing and locking the door behind her. She lead them to the upstairs floor and into a room. On one side of it lay Kurenai, a blanket up to her shoulders and bandages around her neck, spotted with blood. On the other was Kiba, uncovered, stripped to his shorts. Sakura sat beside him, periodically rubbing a wet cloth over his skin in a vain attempt to keep him cool. Shino was nowhere to be seen, but honestly, that didn't surprise anyone who really knew him.

Sakura looked up as they entered the room. Surprise flashed on her face as she recognized the three younger shinobi. "Wha—Sasuke? Naruto, Hinata? What're you doing here?"

Naruto looked to his friends for support, but it was Honoka who answered. "I'm Izumi Honoka, acting commander of Team Kakashi," she said. "We're the team that was sent here to rescue you four." She knelt down next to Kiba. "What's his status?"

Sakura scrunched her eyes. "He's been like this since yesterday, almost thirty-two hours ago," she said. "At first it was just shortness of breath, but it escalated into an inflamed esophagus and a dangerously high fever. Right now, he's sweating more than he can drink, because it's painful for him to swallow anything."

"And her?" Honoka asked, turning to Kurenai.

"She was pierced in the neck with three senbon from three different angles simultaneously, but I couldn't tell you how. Instead of killing her, though, it looks like she got hit in pressure points. We thought she was dead—I swear to you, her heart and her breathing stopped—but when we pulled them out, she woke up. She's been drifting in and out of consciousness since then, but she still can't move without help."

She stopped talking… then tears began welling up in her eyes. "I—I couldn't do anything to help them," she sobbed. "I-I just s-stood by while m-my friends were getting h-hurt, and there was n-nothing I could do!" She buried her face in her hands, tears dripping from her fingers to land on the wooden floor below.

To everyone's surprise, it wasn't Naruto, or Hinata, or even Honoka, who stepped in to comfort the pink-haired kunoichi, but Sasuke. He approached her and put a hand on her head. She looked up at him through her green tear-stained eyes in wonder. Never before had he so much as given her the time of day; now, after all this time… did he actually… could he…

Care?

"Get up," he said, though his tone was not as kind as she had expected it to be. "Stand up. You're exhausted; I heard about what you've been through. I bet you haven't slept since the night before last, am I right?" Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed a moistened hand and pulled her, not roughly, but firmly, to her feet. "Maybe you couldn't help in the fights. I'm sorry, but nobody expects a Genin to fight in their first mission out. You were all the help you could be, helping Kiba walk all the way here, working yourself twice as hard or more than usual. I say, you did all you could, and nobody could ask of more."

He turned to Tsunami. "Do you have somewhere she can sleep? I don't want her to drop in the middle of here while our people do what they can."

The older woman looked slightly stunned by everything that was suddenly taking place in her home, but she nodded meekly. "Yes," she said. "This way."

Sasuke looked back over his shoulder. "I'll be no help in here, and you know it," he said. "Do your thing, I'll be around here somewhere."

"But—" Sakura protested as Sasuke pulled her along.

Sasuke stopped and looked her dead in the eyes. "No 'butts'" he said. "You aren't any good here. Go with Tsunami and get some rest. I'm going up to the roof to keep a lookout; we don't know when some of this Gato guy's goons might show up, or even Zabuza himself. Naruto, can you relieve me in about four hours?"

Naruto nodded. "Happy hunting," Naruto said.

Sasuke left with Sakura, leaving the room oddly silent. Honoka broke the awkward pause first. "Hinata, check out Kurenai with your Byakugan. I want to know exactly what happened to her, and if there's anything that you can do. Pressure points are your specialty. I'll run a diagnostic over Kiba here, see what I can find out about the poison in his system."

Hinata nodded. "Right," she said.

"Naruto," Honoka continued, "get me some water. Lots of water. Use buckets if you have to. I don't have the right tools to do what I think I gotta do, but battlefield surgery will have to do."

Naruto nodded, and rushed off without another word. Honoka needed water to use her special kind of healing jutsu, and he knew that for something as serious as what Kiba appeared to be in, she'd need everything he could get.

He fled down the stairs and, after a quick moment of searching, found the kitchen. He grabbed a couple large kettles hanging over the sink and put them in the sink, running the water to the brim. He created a shadow clone, then on second thought made another one. He had the first one grab a pot and follow him upstairs, while the second was assigned to fill two more.

"Good, you're back," Honoka muttered as Naruto and his clone entered. Said clone put his pot down next to her, then faded from existence in a puff of quickly-dissipating smoke. She'd already emptied the basin by Kiba's bed and had it covering his body, save for his mouth and nose. The blue glow from the water shone dimly in the room, casting faint shadows on the walls and ceiling.

"Find out anything yet?" Naruto asked as he set his own kettle on the floor.

Honoka shot him a dirty look. "I've only been at this for three minutes, boy," she said. "All I can tell for sure is that the remaining poison is in extremely minute quantities throughout his body, but seems to be heavily concentrated all the same. Right now, I'm not even trying to heal him; not when I don't know exactly, to the 'T', what is wrong with him."

"What about you, Hinata?" Naruto asked, anxious for good news.

Hinata shook her head. "Whoever did this knew what he was doing, for sure." She pointed to one puncture point on Kurenai's neck. "This is exactly the point on women that would numb our sense of touch. Without that, it is difficult for the body to function, much the same way that it's hard to move your hand if it falls asleep.

"At the same time, this needle, here," she indicated a spot on nearly the opposite side of the neck, "blocked blood flow, not from the heart to the brain, but the opposite. The pressure built up inside of the brain, causing unconsciousness. But that's not the most confusing part of this whole thing."

"Can it get worse?" Naruto asked, no humor at all in his voice.

"Just the opposite, actually," Hinata said. "This is the interesting part. The third, and final, entry point is what saved Kurenai's life. This undid the impact of the first two, as if they never happened, while keeping her asleep and unconscious. If this specific point had not been punctured, at that exact instant, Kurenai-sensei would have died. Of this, I have no doubt." She shook her head. "It doesn't make any sense. With strikes this precise, there's no way it was an accident. Why would the enemy spare the life of the person about to kill his master?"

"I don't know," said Honoka. "Whoever sent the summoned communication bird—probably Shino—mentioned that it was a person with a Mizu ANBU mask who did the work. If he wasn't ANBU, he was certainly trained by one. I seem to recall that Momochi Zabuza was a member of their black ops team at one point. It's possible that the masked ninja was his personal disciple. If so, he cannot be underestimated. To get the drop on a Jounin like Kurenai… his skills have to be high level." She sighed. "Is there anything that we can do to heal her well enough to get her out of here by tomorrow morning?"

Hinata shook her head. "I don't think so, no. The nerve damage can be repaired, but even medical jutsu, even yours, can't reverse the effects. From what I know, it could take as much as six or seven days for her to recover."

"Shit." Honoka's one-word statement said it all. "What's the soonest she can be good to go?"

Hinata's eyes fell. "No less than four days from now. There is no chance that she can be transported until then."

"And her current status?" Honoka asked evenly.

"Stable," said Hinata. "I can promise she won't get any worse."

Honoka nodded. "That's good enough for the moment." She raised her hands, lifting the water off of Kiba's near-nude body and deposited it back into the basin it had come from. "But him…" She shook her head. "This is one messed up little poison. It'll take hours to detox him. I can do it, but the process will leave him too weak to move around for a while yet." She pulled a kunai out of her hip holster. "Naruto, Hinata… there's nothing that you can do for the moment. Send another clone to get some more water—one pot should do the trick. I want you two in bed, now. And don't forget to relieve Sasuke in time, Naruto."

Naruto nodded. "Understood. Will you be all right here by yourself?"

"I'll be fine. Go."

Naruto and Hinata turned to leave, but he suddenly realized something. "Wait a second," he said slowly. "Where's Akamaru?"

"Who?" Honoka asked.

"Akamaru, his ninken dog. They've been together for over a year, they're never apart!"

Hinata activated her Byakugan. "He's under the bed, asleep. After the day they've had, he must be worn out. Don't forget, the Inuzuka and their dogs share a sympathetic bond; whatever one feels, the other feels, be it emotions, or pain. It's probably for the best that he's out of it right now. Besides, Kiba wouldn't want him to be as pained as him, right?"

Naruto had to agree. For all his faults, he truly cared for that dog. "Come on," he said gently to Hinata. "We've had a long day too. We both need our sleep." They found Tsunami, who lead them to an empty room. When she left, they abandoned the pretense of sleeping separately, and Hinata slipped into the small twin bed with Naruto, who held her until it was time for him to take over watch for Sasuke.

He sat there until dawn's early light, then went into the house, with one thing on his mind. _There's no way we'll be out of here any time soon, _he thought. _More than likely, we're gonna end up fighting this Zabuza guy. This is the second Mist Seven Swordsman we've had to deal with in a week. Is their village really that screwed up?_

_Not to mention… we keep getting thrown into these dangerous situations. I can't help but think none of it's accidental. Is Sarutobi pulling the strings here? Is he testing us?_

_Is he testing me?

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A/N: Ok, ok, I know I left it with a little bit of a cliff-hanger there, and I'm sorry. But I couldn't resist. The next chapter will be up around Friday the 6th, which is conveniently my birthday… No rest for the wicked, after all.

I have things to do, so this is about it for right now. Read and review, let me know what you're thinking. For those who asked about Naruto's mom and the discrepancies between this and the manga—trust me, you'll know everything soon enough. But until the current story arc is completed, I don't wanna delve too deeply into it.

Sayonara people. Arigato.

dead witch


	18. Wave's Crest

A/N: Well, here's chapter 18, way earlier than expected. I thought I'd have it done by Friday… but it's Monday. Damn, I'm working fast lately.

Nothing much else new to report. School is going well, I made cookies today, and all is right with the world.

Gonna answer some reviews, just some of the important ones right now. Lots of questions have been asked, so I need to do some clarifying.

**Chapter 15 Reviews:**

**TimeShifter: Good question. If the Hokage dies, then the cell will be left isolated. Certain provisions, however, would be set in place for them to operate independently. Imagine, three of the most powerful shinobi (potentially, anyway) enforcing justice without an authority to officially answer to? Actually, now that I think about it, that's a good idea…**

**Anthurak the Chaos Lord: Nope, it won't be a Chekov's Armory… and I fully credit many, many hours spent on to not even have to look it up to know what it was. But a critical scene will play out there, and yes, everything will fall into place when the time comes. And yes… there will be much calling the old man out. Have no doubt.**

**Takeshi7117: Sando's memories of the event aren't full—the mask was taken off by Minato sometime before the birth of Naruto, so his memories of that time aren't fully fleshed. All Naruto knows at this time was that his mother was the host of the Kyuubi, so he made that assumption. Read on for a while, and you'll learn more eventually.**

**Dragon Man 180: See above, dude.**

**Hinata-fan2: Right now, they're 13 years old. Yes, some of the scenes here are somewhat… controversial, especially for the age group. It'll get better… or worse, depending on how you look at it, as time goes on.**

Welp, that's about it boys and girls. There's this chapter, the next, and the next one after that, then the Wave arc is over and done with. What comes next… oh, come on, I don't have to spell it out for you.

Things are about to get really, really interesting around here.

Read on, net surfers

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**Chapter 18**

He could smell the food cooking in the kitchen before he even entered the back door of the house. _Eggs, _Naruto thought as he sniffed the aroma creeping in the air. _Bacon, too. _The last time he'd eaten was on the road, at about five or six o'clock the previous evening. All that meal had consisted of was a couple high-energy bars and a soldier pill. Sure, it had allowed him to continue on to Wave country without stopping, but an empty stomach was an empty stomach, and the appetizing smells coming from inside made his stomach growl like a beast.

Naruto opened the door to see Tsunami at the stove, apron covering her front, spatula in hand as she stirred the scrambled eggs in the cast iron skillet. "Good morning," she said, as small smile on her face. "You hungry?" she asked, nodding her head to the food.

"Famished," Naruto replied. "Need any help?"

She hesitated for a moment. "If you could check the biscuits in the oven," she said, "I'd appreciate it. This pan tends to burn eggs if you're not careful."

Naruto nodded. "Sure thing." He opened the oven, reeling back as a wave of hot air assaulted his face. "Bah," he muttered. "Should have seen that one coming."

Tsunami laughed good-naturedly. "That happens to the best of us," she said.

Naruto took a look—minus the potential scorching of his face—into the oven. The biscuits were just beginning to brown, but weren't yet done. "Another five minutes or so, and they should be good," he said.

"All right," she answered. "Thank you… actually, I didn't get your name last night, did I?"

Naruto laughed. "No, you didn't," he said. "Uzumaki Naruto, at your service. You're Tsunami, right?"

She nodded as she continued stirring the eggs, which looked almost done. "Yes," she said. "I'm Tazuna's daughter. I—I'm sorry for what he lead your people into. I assume you know what happened… and why."

Naruto sighed. "I heard, yeah. The guy who picked us up, Honda, gave us the gist of it."

"Honda's a good man, but he's too loyal to my father for his own good." She frowned as she scooped the mess of eggs into a ceramic bowl. "If Father asked him to jump off the bridge, all Honda'd do is ask him which part. No offense, but he should never have gone out to get you lot, especially in the middle of the night. Gato's people are all over the place… he's even got some of the native people on his payroll. It can be difficult to trust people here these days."

Naruto looked away. "I'm sorry," he said. "I know how rough it is for your people right now. I wish I could help—I really do. But I have my orders: I'm to get my people out of here as quickly as possible without looking for trouble. There's… I can't fight your battles. _We_ can't fight you battles. If I could have it the other way… if I could just go looking for these punks, find Gato and take him out… I would. I promise, Tsunami-san. I'm good enough to do my fair share of ass-kicking. Can I say ass?"

Tsunami smiled sadly. "Hell yes," she said.

Naruto laughed again. "Thanks. Feels good to know I don't have to hold back. It feels good to curse."

She let out a huff. "I know how you feel. But ever since Inari could speak, I've been careful about what I say."

"Inari?"

"My son. He's eight, and even more strong-willed and mulish than his grandfather."

Naruto looked at her carefully. "You're a mother?" He grinned. "Not too bad for an old lady."

She laughed and took a swat at him with a clean serving spoon. He artfully dodged out of the way. "Old woman?" She put on a mock stern face. "I'm only twenty-eight!"

"She's thirty-one, if a day old," a gruff voice said from behind Naruto. He turned to see an older man enter the room, graying hair poking out from under a conical straw hat.

"Tazuna-san, I presume?" said Naruto as the old man sat at the table.

He nodded. "And you're one of the brats that came in last night, right?"

Naruto clenched his fist. "I'd watch what you say right now. Because of you, two people I know, and happen to like, are hurt. They were put at risk, their lives in danger, and you don't even look like you care. And you… you have the nerve to call me and my comrades _brats?_" He leaned over the table, planted his hands, and looked Tazuna in the eyes. "Give me one reason… one good reason why I shouldn't punch your head off right now."

To his credit, Tazuna didn't flinch. He held Naruto's gaze evenly. "Because," he said, "blood would get on the floor, and you'd have to clean it up. Someone as caring as you wouldn't make my daughter clean up after her old man, would you?"

For a moment, both men and Tsunami were silent. "No," Naruto said slowly, breaking the pause. "I don't think I would. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't take you outside where you can't stain the floor."

Tazuna held onto the stare. "You do what you gotta do," he said. "That's the motto I've lived by since this whole thing with Gato started. If you think you scare me after what I've seen that man do to my family, you have another thing coming. I've seen more blood than you can dream of, boy, and that's a fact."

Naruto snorted. "I highly doubt that," Naruto said. "I've killed my fair share of assholes… including one guy who used to work with this Zabuza punk. So, no, sir, I doubt you've even begun to see what goes on when blood starts flowing."

"Wanna bet?" Tazuna asked.

For some reason, Naruto hesitated. Something in his tone said that there was something up his sleeve. "Damn right," he said. "The entire contents of my wallet versus yours. Still wanna take it?"

Tazuna chuckled and closed his eyes, breaking the staring contest that had been going on. "Of course," he said. "You first."

Naruto snorted. "By the time I was twelve years old, I'd already killed six grown men, all of whom wanted me dead for something I couldn't control. The circumstances of my birth… let's just say it hasn't been easy for me. I saw my friend sawed in half right next to me. Fought a guy who killed people to power himself up. Trust me, that's a lot of blood."

Tazuna was silent for a moment. For a second, Naruto thought he'd won, but then the old man spoke. "I was at Wave village the day it was destroyed. While I hid like the coward I am, I saw dozens and dozens of good people die—and that's only what I could see from my limited vantage point."

Naruto winced. He knew that that was the village his mother had come from. If he'd been there that day…

Naruto slowly reached into his bum pouch and pulled out his wallet. He withdrew every bill he had and slowly, one by one, laid them on the table. Tazuna's and Tsunami's eyes went wide as the thick wad made of thousand-ryo notes made a gradually larger pile on the table surface.

Finally, he no longer had a single bill left. "Take your money," Naruto said softly. "Before I change my mind."

Tazuna looked at the boy with amazement in his eyes. "That's… that's more than I ever had in my life," he said. "More than I used to make in two years. Where did you get it?"

Naruto looked away. "One of the guys I killed… way back when. He was a drug dealer. I caught him in the middle of a sale. I took the cash, and destroyed the product. I always carry it with me these days. Except for once, I've never spent this stash. I don't know where it came from, but I don't need it. You do."

Longing crossed Tazuna's face, mixed with disgust. "This is drug money?" he said contemptuously.

"Don't start with me," Naruto growled. "I have all the cash I need back home, and I doubt I'll need any while I'm here. Take the damn money. With everything you've been through here…"

"Listen to him, Dad!" said Tsunami. "He doesn't have to do this, but he is! Let go of your damned pride for once and let someone help you!"

"It's drug money," Tazuna said with a note of finality. "I won't take it."

"Whatever happened to 'do what you gotta do'?" Naruto asked, his question laced with venom. "Are you going to let your family—your village—suffer because your pride would be wounded? No, don't answer that." He grabbed the stack of cash and handed it to Tsunami. "Take this," he said. Put it somewhere safe. Spread some of it around to those who need it the most. But be subtle about it; you don't want Gato's goons to hear about this."

"You little punk," Tazuna said without conviction. "Why are you doing this?"

Naruto again locked eyes with the old man. "Why? … I've seen enough suffering in my life already. Your daughter—your grandson—they don't deserve to suffer. Not even you. You're trying to save your country. How many people can say that?"

Tazuna shook his head. "You… you're a strange kid, you know that?"

The blond smiled. "I've heard that once or twice. Usually, it's followed by some kind of insult, usually directed at my intelligence. But I've heard worse. If strange is all you can think up right now, I'll take it as a compliment."

Tsunami grabbed Naruto from behind in a tight embrace, startling the boy. "Th-thank you, Naruto-san," she said as tears began to flow from her eyes. "You—you're a hero, you know that?"

"There's no such thing as heroes!" a voice shouted from the kitchen doorway. Naruto looked up to see a boy, about eight years old standing there looking at him with a scowl on his face. "Anyone who believes in heroes is a fool!" He ran off without another word, before anyone could respond.

"Inari!" Tsunami shouted as she let go of Naruto and went off after him. "Come back here and apologize!"

As she left the room, Naruto glanced at Tazuna. "Her son?" he asked.

Tazuna sighed. "Yeah, and my grandson," he said. "Please, forgive him. He's had it especially tough this past year. His father was killed by Gato's thugs seven months back. That's what made me decide to scrounge up what I could and hire the others. And when I say scrounge… I sold my best tools for not even a fifth of what they were worth. If I could have sold the house, I would have, but nobody's buying. I had no choice but to hire your friends as a simple escort. Some part of me, the foolish, idiotic part, hoped that everything would work out, that they would kill Zabuza and his flunky."

"That was foolish," Naruto agreed. "You knew better than that."

"Do what you gotta do," Tazuna reminded him.

Suddenly, Naruto remembered the biscuits in the oven. He jumped up and opened it up. "Perfect," he said as he grabbed an oven mitt and pulled them out to cool.

"By the way…" Naruto said as he turned around back to Tazuna. "How much money, exactly, is in your wallet?"

Tazuna smiled bashfully as he pulled out his billfold and opened it up to show the boy. It was as bare as the day it was made.

* * *

Naruto woke Hinata from her slumber, though Sasuke was already up. He had been sitting in the living room with Sakura, talking quietly amongst themselves. After they ate, they checked in with Honoka. They knocked on the door that held the injured shinobi, and, not getting an answer, opened it wide.

Honoka lay stretched out on the floor, a damp towel functioning as a makeshift pillow. Even in her sleep she looked exhausted. Nobody knew when she finally succumbed to sleep, but it couldn't have been long.

Her handiwork was evident, though; Kiba had stopped sweating, and some color was coming back to his tattooed cheeks. His sleeping face no longer was contorted in pain, and he seemed relaxed in his slumber.

Every pot that had been brought up the night before was as full as it had been the previous night, but was clouded with an inky black substance. The one closest to the bed was the most thick, while the one furthest away seemed to only have a trace of the pollution in it. "She did it," Sakura said softly, as if not believing it. "She actually saved his life." She began tearing up. "I'm so h-happy, why am I crying?" she asked everyone and nobody.

"You're crying _because _you're happy," Hinata said gently, pulling her away from the room before they could wake any of the inhabitants. "Everything is all right, you can let it out now."

Sakura sniffed. "No, I'm ok," she said. "I can pull myself together. How's Kurenai-sensei?"

"She's doing better," said Hinata as she activated her Byakugan. "Somewhere along the line—probably right before she passed out—she repaired the nerve damage in her neck. Eventually, she'll be as good as new."

"She's one hell of a medic," Sakura muttered. "How does she do that—the thing with the water?"

"It's a part of her kekkei genkai," Naruto said. "She can do high-level healing without much formal training. It's said that, in some respects, she's as good as the legendary Sannin Tsunade ever was."

"Let's let them sleep," Hinata said quietly as she ushered Naruto and Sasuke out of the room. "They all need it."

The boys agreed. They went back downstairs to find Shino standing in the living room. "Hey, Shino," Naruto said in greeting.

Naruto couldn't see the bug user's eyes behind his darkly-tinted sunglasses. Frankly, he found it unsettling not to be able to. "They sent you three to rescue us," Shino said monotonously.

Naruto sighed. Was he really going to get an attitude right now? "Yes, we're here to rescue you. Believe me, if I could be anywhere else in the world, I would be. But here we are. Do you have a problem with that?"

Shino, surprisingly, shook his head "no." "Not at all," he said. "You were always dependable, before. And my beetles… tell me that you are even stronger than before." He furrowed his eyebrows. "They also say… there's something different about you. You've changed since I last saw you, Uzumaki-kun."

Naruto paused. Could the insects inside the boy's body really detect the mask inside of his own body? "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Before… you always radiated the demon's chakra. But it is gone now." Shino's eyes shot up in genuine surprise. "Is the Kyuubi removed?"

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. So _that _was what the bugs detected. "No, not removed," Naruto said. "The chakra of the fox has just been sealed from me for right now. Sandaime-sama thought I was relying on it too much, and blocked my access to it for the time being, the better to control and develop my personal chakra reservoir."

Naruto channeled a little bit of chakra to his abdominal region, to make the seal on his stomach appear. He pulled up his shirt past his chest to show the Aburame. "See here? This is a seven-layer seal over an eight-layered one. It's disrupting the flow to the point where it's blocked."

"I… see," said Shino.

"So, anyway… where were you last night?" Naruto asked, eager to steer the conversation away from him.

"I once heard… that this island had some interesting insects. I was looking for some all night."

"Catch anything good?" Hinata asked.

In answer, Shino held up a sleeved arm. Several insects, mostly in pairs, crawled out from under the cuff to swarm his beige sleeve. Sakura and Hinata instinctively jumped backwards; no matter how strong they were, it seemed that some things would always give some girls the creeps. "These are some rare breeds that are difficult to find on the mainland," he said. "These ones," he said, pointing to what looked like a small Hercules beetle, "have jaws that can bite through solid rock. If I breed them right, eventually I could have an army strong enough to penetrate a castle."

"Where do you keep the ones you collect?" Sakura asked, goose bumps rising on her exposed arms.

Shino turned his black stoic gaze to her. "There are some things you do not want to know," he said. "This may be one of them."

She gulped. "Point taken. Hinata? Can we go somewhere else?"

Hinata nodded. "Sure. No offense, Shino—you're a nice guy, but the bugs are kind of creepy." They turned and walked back toward the kitchen.

Naruto sighed. "Do you always get treated like that?" he asked as Shino mentally commanded the insects back into the seclusion of his clothing.

The black-haired boy nodded. "I got used to it eventually. People tend to be afraid of things that are different. I expect you know how that is."

Indeed, Naruto did know what that was like. He had a newfound respect for his former classmate. "Yeah. Anyway… have you been up all night?"

Shino nodded. "I do not require much sleep," he said. "My insects take care of the repairs to my body that sleep usually does. Perhaps four hours every two or three days is spent sleeping. When I want to sleep… I can't."

"Is it… the bugs?" Naruto asked. He immediately regretted asking the question.

"Yes," Shino answered simply… then turned away and walked off toward the kitchen, no doubt to go outside and find some more insects.

"Is it me?" Naruto asked Sasuke.

The raven-haired Uchiha shrugged. "I don't know," he answered. Without another word, he turned to the stairs and ascended them.

Naruto was taken aback for a moment. "Hey, jackass!" he finally said. "That's not funny!"

* * *

As morning slowly shifted into afternoon, Naruto could feel the tension in the household subside. No longer were the members of Team 10 in danger for their lives… at least not for the moment.

He spent most of his time outside, in the back with Hinata. There, they sat in a couple chairs, just talking aimlessly. They both knew that something was going to happen soon, and there was nothing they could do about it.

Naruto wanted to help Tazuna and the village, and by extension, the country. But he had his orders: do nothing until Kurenai and Kiba were healthy enough to leave, then get the hell out of there.

He silently wracked his brain looking for a way to get around his commands, but there wasn't anything he could come up with. Finally, after a long stretch of silence, he sighed and stood up. "I'm going for a walk," he told Hinata. "I just need to be alone for a while."

She nodded and stood up next to him. "I understand," she said. "How long do you think you'll be gone?"

Naruto shrugged. "A few hours, at least. I just want to get a feel for this place. I'm gonna go into the forest for a while, just enjoy the silence. I don't think I can stand being here for that much longer."

Hinata hugged him close. Naruto could smell the shampoo in her hair as she nuzzled into him. "Be safe, ok? Don't forget… we can't go looking for trouble."

Naruto smiled down at her. "You know me," he said. "Since when do I go looking for trouble?"

She snorted. "Do you want the alphabetical list, or chronological?"

The blond laughed as he returned her hug. "Ok, ok, I get your point. But I promise I'll be good."

Hinata kissed him. "You better," she said. "Or I'll have Honoka punish you again." Naruto knew this was no empty threat.

"Deal," he said. "I'll be back by dinner, or thereabouts. Promise." He gave her a quick kiss, lingering just a second more than necessary, then set off into the woods behind the house.

* * *

Though not large by Konoha standards, the trees of the small island of Wave were massive compared to normal. Most were five or six feet in diameter, so large that Naruto couldn't wrap his arms to touch opposite sides if he tried.

His footfalls crunched softly in the ancient loam on the ground as he wandered aimlessly between tree-trunks. There were no real paths here; the ground was too covered by the thick canopy to produce much more than token offerings of patches of grass here and there. Instead, leaves from decades of autumns and pine needles created a universally brown forest floor.

It was mostly quiet there in the forest, though in the distance he could hear birds chirping away, and once or twice he saw squirrels hopping from one branch to another. All in all, it was a beautiful setting. If he didn't know better, his isolation might make him think that he was all alone in the world.

He yawned heavily. He'd only gotten a few hours of sleep the previous night, and traveling all the way here from his own village had taken a lot out of him. Without the Kyuubi's chakra to supplement his own, he wasn't the stamina freak he used to be. Now, to his own chagrin, he was almost as fallible in that regard as his teammates.

_Maybe I can find someplace to sit down, _Naruto thought to himself. _Just catch an hour's sleep or so… _He glanced around for a likely spot to hunker down. Eventually, he saw a hollow in some roots that looked like a likely candidate. He approached it to find that it was exactly what he needed: a small opening that actually went slightly under the body of the tree with raised roots on both sides. After a quick investigation, he saw that there were no animals there already, and hadn't been recently. The ground was soft with collected soil and pine needles; gentle pushing formed a perfect pillow to lay his head down upon. He knew that some would get in his hair, but he didn't care… he could always wash it…

Before he knew it, the exhausted shinobi was out like a light, blissfully unaware of the silent world around him.

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes before he even knew that he was awake. Every primal instinct he had was screaming, but he kept himself completely still. He controlled his breathing, urging his lungs to not make a sound.

He strained his ears to pick up something, anything, whatever it was that woke him up. Judging by the position of the sun in the sky, he didn't think he'd been asleep for more than an hour or two. Nonetheless, he felt quite rested, as if he'd gotten a whole night's worth of slumber.

_There. _From somewhere on the other side of the tree, he heard footsteps on the forest floor. They were slow and measured, but it was obvious where they were coming from. _If it was someone coming to kill me, _Naruto thought, _they'd be a lot more stealthy. _He decided that he'd stay there, silent and motionless, until the person went away. No need for someone to be asking questions that he didn't want to answer.

The footsteps stopped… Naruto couldn't tell how far the person was from him, due to the confusing acoustics of the woods. He held his breath, wishing the person would just go away. But for several long moments, he or she seemed rooted to the spot. _Do they know I'm here? Are they waiting for me?_

Finally, Naruto couldn't take it anymore. Patience was not his forte, and he preferred to deal with things personally. He stood up quietly, making as little noise as possible. Placing his hands on the side of the tree, he channeled chakra to them and his feet so he could crawl up and around the tree discreetly to peek around.

About forty feet away, he saw a youth in a pink kimono with a flower print on it. Naruto assumed it was a girl—not many males wore that much pink if they could help it—but there weren't many curves to the posture to be sure. She, he, was hunched over on his/her knees, facing away from Naruto, working with something on the ground.

_It's some local, _Naruto thought. He decided he didn't need to hide anymore. He jumped down from the tree to land on the ground with a muffled _thump. _

The person turned around in a blur, rising to his feet, shearing scissors held tightly in his hands. Though he had decidedly feminine features, the slight Adams apple, so small it was barely visible, belied his sex. "Woah, calm down," Naruto said, holding up empty hands. "I come in peace. I didn't mean to startle you."

The boy—he wasn't much older than Naruto—slowly lowered the shears. "You didn't startle me. I heard you snoring from quite a way away. I was trying not to wake you, but apparently you are a light sleeper."

Naruto frowned. His snoring was going to be the death of him someday—maybe literally. "Damn," he muttered. "I'm gonna have to have that taken care of."

"What do you mean?" the youth asked as he dropped the shears to his side.

"All my friends say I snore way too loud," Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head. "I hear there's medications that might help with that kind of thing… I should probably look into it."

The boy smiled good-naturedly. "Perhaps," he said. "Even in sleep, shinobi should be stealthy."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "How'd you know I was a shinobi?" he asked.

The boy looked down. "The kunai pouch on your hip is a clue," he said.

"Oh—yeah, that." He laughed. "I always miss little things like that. Anyway, what are you doing way out here?"

The boy gestured to the spot he had been hovering over. "I am collecting some medicinal plants," he said. "A friend of mine is injured; these speed up metabolism. He got hurt a couple of days ago, and hasn't been eating. I am hoping that this will bring his appetite back."

"Oh… are you like a medic or something?"

The boy shook his head. "No… nothing of the sort. I just know a few things about plants, is all."

Naruto nodded, then grabbed the side of his head. "Do you have anything for headaches?" he asked. "I haven't been getting a lot of sleep lately, and it's wearing me down."

The boy nodded, and smiled. "I think I can help," he said, and bent down to the basket beside him to rummage through the various plants in it.

Naruto noticed that he didn't have a shirt on under his kimono. He was thin, almost painfully so, though his bones didn't seem pronounced under his skin. He was merely slender for his height.

Something caught his eye. He strode over to the boy casually and bent down opposite him. "What're you collecting all these plants for? Your friend can't be that sick, can he?"

He shook his head. "No. But there are a number of medicinal herbs in this area, so I'd prefer to collect what I can while I'm here."

Naruto nodded. "So, you're not from around here, are you?"

The boy looked up at Naruto quickly. In a flash, Naruto's hand snaked out under the boy's kimono. He grabbed what he saw in the lining inside of it, and pulled it out. He ducked, then rolled away as the shears in the boy's hand came flying point-first at his neck.

He leapt away and to the side as a kunai flew at him, thunking into a tree in the distance. Naruto hid behind a tree and pulled a brace of kunai from his own store. "Yeah, that's pretty much what I expected," he said aloud. "Let me guess—you're the guy with the ANBU mask from the Mist, right?"

Silence followed the question, though Naruto didn't actually expect him to answer. He continued, "And the medicinal herbs are for this Zabuza guy, I'm guessing. I know that they do speed up the metabolism, you weren't lying about that. But you don't want them because he isn't eating. The genjutsu that was used on him was one that made his whole body think that it was dying. His heart stopped working properly. You need to speed up his blood flow to get it pumping again."

"You are very perceptive," the boy called out from the other side of the tree. "How did you know all this?"

"I didn't have a clue, until I saw this pouch inside your kimono," Naruto replied. "Let me guess: it's full of senbon, am I right?" His silence was all the confirmation that he needed. "Of course I'm right."

The air was still, but Naruto could feel him close by. "How about this," he continued. "Let's call a truce, just for right now. A one-time deal. I come out, and we don't try to kill each other. Deal?"

The boy was quiet for several long moments. "Agreed," he finally said.

"I'm coming out," Naruto called. He put the kunai away and stuck a hand out from behind the tree to where he knew the other boy could see it. He knew he was taking a huge risk, but he didn't have much of a choice. If this was the right-hand man of Momochi Zabuza, his skill couldn't be underestimated. But he couldn't risk a fight, not this close to the house of Tazuna.

Naruto stepped around the tree, hands in the air as a sign of peace. The boy was still in the same spot as before, with another kunai gripped tightly in his hands. "I think introductions are in order," Naruto said calmly. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I guess you know where I'm from by now."

"The Leaf village," the boy replied. "Here to take your friends home. Perhaps to continue guarding Tazuna, in the stead of your injured comrades."

Naruto shook his head. "You're only half right," he said. "Yes, we are here to take our friends home. But our job with the bridge builder is over. He lied about the contract. He told our people that they'd only be on an escort mission. He didn't mention that he had a contract on his head. From what I understand, this was the first mission their team had taken outside of the village. None of them were prepared for this kind of job."

"You aren't here to fight?" the sallow youth asked.

"No… Not for the moment, anyway. All we want is to leave unmolested. When our people are ready to go, we'll be out of this country. Then you can do what you want."

The boy considered that. "If what you say is true… How long will it take for your people to be ready for transport?"

Naruto paused for a moment. Exactly how much intel should he give out? "Not too long. Maybe six days."

The boy stared at Naruto evenly. "My master will be healthy in four," he said. "No more. At that time, no matter where he is, he will come after Tazuna. I'm assuming you are staying at his residence."

Naruto frowned. "You assume correctly. I don't suppose I can request that his home be considered neutral territory?"

He shook his head. "No," the boy said. "He must be killed if at all possible. No matter where. No matter what."

Naruto sighed. "Then it seems we have a problem. I'm living at the man's house. If you attack there, you'll have six able-bodied shinobi there to defend him. Without him, construction's stalled at the bridge. Even if you attack by yourself, I highly doubt you'll be able to get to him without getting killed yourself."

"If dying is what it takes to achieve our goals," the boy said, "then it's what I'll do."

"What's so worth dying for?" Naruto asked.

"The dreams of my master. They're all that mean anything to me."

"Are you that dedicated?"

"Yes."

"Then… we have ourselves a problem." Naruto hefted the bag of senbon in his hand. "I have to thank you, though. You could have easily killed Kurenai-sensei if you wanted to, yet you didn't. Why?"

"I try to avoid needless slaughter," he said. "My assignment wasn't to kill her, so I didn't."

Naruto contemplated him for a moment. "Thank you," he said sincerely. "Our healer repaired her nerve damage, but couldn't heal her completely. She's resting right now."

"And the boy?"

"Cured completely. He'll be his old annoying self any day now."

"Your medic must be good, then. I mixed that poison myself."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "She's the best at what she does."

"She'd have to be."

Naruto sighed, standing down from his defensive posture. "Ok, now we're both getting passive-aggressive. We're not getting anywhere. I don't want to kill you, you apparently don't want to kill me, or anyone else besides Tazuna. You can't take him by yourself—not now, not with all of us around, anyway. Zabuza won't be good for a while yet, but before my people are a hundred percent. How about this—in five days, meet us at the bridge. You're going to attack anyway; there might as well be some honor in all of this bull shit."

"…Perhaps."

"Do you speak for your master?" Naruto asked.

"He can be… persuaded. I'll ask him. But no promises."

"I'll have to accept that. Meet me here, tomorrow. Same time. Will you honor our truce until then?"

The boy nodded. "Yes. I will, unless otherwise ordered."

"Deal," Naruto said. He tossed the senbon back to him. "Keep them," he said. "Consider it a gift."

The boy deftly caught the bag and slowly pocketed the needles. "You give a weapon back to an enemy? Are you that confident that I won't attack you once you turn your back?"

Naruto hesitated. "Let's just say that I have faith in basic humanity. You don't look like a liar to me. I can only hope I'm right. Am I?"

The boy slowly nodded. "You are," he said. He bent down to pick up the basket, his eyes never leaving Naruto. "We'll both leave from the way we came."

"And we don't kill each other," Naruto added, perhaps a little bit of humor in his voice.

The boy didn't laugh, didn't so much as smile. "That's the deal."

Naruto gave up. "Agreed." He began to turn, then stopped. "Wait, one more thing. I didn't get your name."

The boy paused in mid-stride. "My name is Haku. Just… Haku."

Naruto smiled as he continued on his way. "Nice to meet you, Haku. I wish we could have met on more pleasant terms."

"The same," Haku replied. "I really don't want to have to kill you."

"Me neither, Haku. Me neither."

* * *

"Where the fuck have you been?" Honoka yelled at Naruto as soon as he stepped through the back door into the kitchen. "I wake up to find out that you've left, and nobody knows where the hell you are!"

Naruto sighed. "I told Hinata I was going for a walk," he said as he sat down at the table. "Did you ask her?"

"Of course I asked her!" she said.

"Did you ask her to use her Byakugan to find me? I was only a couple miles away."

"I—" She caught herself. "No… I didn't." She sighed. "Ok, maybe I overreacted. Sorry." She smiled sheepishly. "I'm just a little bit stressed, as you can tell."

Naruto nodded. "I can," he said dryly. "Listen, we all need to talk. But first, how's Kurenai and Kiba doing?"

"They're both awake," Sakura said from behind Honoka as she walked into the room. "Dog Boy's got a lot of energy now that he's not dying. We had to threaten to physically restrain him if he didn't sit still. Kurenai, though, can't summon the energy to stand up. It could be a while before she can move by herself."

"Then we'll have to talk upstairs," Naruto said, "because this involves all of us. Sakura, can you find Shino and ask him to meet us up there? Sasuke and Hinata, too, if you see them."

"Ok… but what's this all about?" the pink-haired girl asked.

"Trust me, you'll see," he said. "I'll explain it to everyone upstairs, I promise."

She looked a little unsure, but nodded. "I'll go see where Shino is," she said, then moved out of the room.

Honoka looked at Naruto. "Just what _is _going on, Naruto?"

Naruto clinched his jaw. "Let's just say, for the moment… you aren't going to be happy."

* * *

"YOU DID WHAT?" Honoka screeched at Naruto.

"I told you you weren't going to be happy," Naruto said.

"This is no time for jokes!" she shouted. "You met the enemy and had a full out conversation with him! He—he hurt your fellow Konoha shinobi! You should have killed him!"

Naruto took a deep breath. Somehow, he knew this conversation wasn't going to be easy. "It's not that simple," he said. "I didn't have the drop on him, not when I knew who and what he was. It was too risky, without knowing his skill level. He might have been stronger than me, for all I know. He certainly was no weakling, I can tell you that for sure. He might have killed me. Then we'd be no better off than we are now."

"But who gave you the right to speak for us?" Honoka asked. "You… you arranged a truce, practically in my name!"

"And he in Zabuza's. I trust it."

"Blind trust isn't like you, Naruto," Sasuke said. "Especially after all we've been through."

Naruto slammed a closed fist against the wall, splintering it with the strike. "Maybe I'm tired of fighting all the time!" he said. "Maybe, maybe I just want to work things out peaceably! Maybe I want to save some lives, instead of destroying them! I've always left things worse than I found them, and I'm sick of it! If there's a chance, even just a sliver of it, I'm gonna do what I can to make sure that nobody dies on my watch!"

"That might not be your choice," Honoka said. "In our line of work, people die all the time. That's a way of life, and you have to accept it."

"So what are we gonna do? Just leave? Let Tazuna die?"

Honoka's face was stony. "It's out of our hands. Just accept it. When Kurenai can move, we leave."

"And how long will that be?" Naruto asked.

"Five… maybe six days," Honoka answered grudgingly.

"That's two more days than we have. Haku said Zabuza will be fighting fit in four. We don't have time on our side. There's a chance that they will attack this house before we leave. He already said it's a possibility."

"Then we'll just have to be ready for that, should it come. Until then, run under the assumption that he won't risk it."

"That's not good enough!"

"It has to be."

Naruto clawed at his hair. "This is complete and utter bull shit!" he shouted. "This is wrong, and you know it! Kurenai-sensei won't be strong enough to fight, even if she can move! If we're attacked then, who knows what would happen? We don't know how many people Zabuza has under his command, or how many Gato has! As strong as we all are, we could be overwhelmed on unfamiliar territory! We're stuck here until we fix it all!"

"_We_? Fix it all? Naruto, we aren't heroes. We can't save everyone, even if we wanted to."

"Why not? Come on, Honoka-chan, why not?" Naruto took a deep breath. "We are here. We have the power. Come on, take a look around you. Me, Sasuke, Hinata… this kind of thing is what we were made to _do._"

Honoka sent a stern gaze to him. "That's enough," she said. "This conversation is over."

The door burst open with a bang, startling most of the people in the room. "This isn't fair!" Inari screamed. "You're going to let my grandpa die, just cause you aren't getting paid to save him! I know this is about money, it's always about money! We gave you everything we had, but it wasn't enough to help, and now Gato's goons are gonna… gonna…" He burst into tears and ran away, leaving them stunned, and Honoka slightly ashamed.

Dead silence reigned. "How much of that do you think he heard?" Naruto eventually asked Honoka softly. "From the middle, or the beginning? How about the part where you condemned Tazuna to death because you didn't think it was worth the risk, or the time?"

"That—that's not fair, Naruto," Honoka said. "We have our orders."

"You're right. It's not fair. Now, let me tell you something, Honoka. When this cell was formed, Sarutobi-sama told me something. He said that the orders you get from your leader aren't the ones that should always be followed. I tried to swear an oath to always obey my commander, but he wouldn't let me. Do you know why? Because personal judgment is always, _always _the most important tool for a shinobi. If we had obeyed Kakashi on our last mission, he would be dead by now, and the mission failed. I think that we should follow that line of reasoning right now.

"We're from Konoha, the first village in the world to become as unified under one flag as we are. We're essentially the model for every other hidden village, anywhere. We were founded on the idea that peace was the end goal of every conflict." He locked eyes, one at a time, with everyone in the room. "We have a chance—an extremely slim one, but still visible, if we care to look—to bring an era of peace and prosperity to an entire country. These people have been broken and bleeding for over a decade, since before most of us could form complete sentences. If we leave now, they might never get a chance like this in our lifetime. Under Gato's rule, thousands of people will never know the life of peace that our own country has." He took a deep breath. "We cannot back down now. We cannot retreat. We cannot surrender. We all have a responsibility as Konoha shinobi to uphold the honor that has been passed down to us. Are we really just going to walk away from this? Just let these people suffer, when we could have actually done something?"

"There's one problem, though," said Kurenai. "We were hired to protect Tazuna on the way here. Even if that contract hadn't been made through lies, and we accepted it as valid… our job is over now that he's here. Even if we go along with you, Naruto, and decide to protect Tazuna so that he can finish the bridge… they couldn't afford it."

"How much?"

They turned once again to the doorway. Tsunami stood there, trembling. "How much would it take? How much?"

Honoka sighed. "More than you could afford, ma'am."

"Just please… tell me." The desperation in her voice was heartbreaking.

"This would be called an S-class mission," she explained. "The likelihood of combat is assured. People will fight… and most likely die. The going price for a mission like this is in the neighborhood of twenty thousand ryo per shinobi… and it's almost always in teams of four. Unless you have over eighty thousand bucks just laying around…"

Honoka fell silent as Tsunami pulled the wad of cash he had given her earlier out of her pocket with trembling hands. "Is… is this enough?" she asked in a quivering voice.

"Where did you get all of that?" Honoka asked breathlessly.

"I gave it to her," Naruto said. "More accurately, Tazuna won it, but wouldn't take it. So I gave it to her instead. I didn't need it—and it seemed like a good idea at the time."

"You just walk around with a hundred grand?" Kiba asked with a short laugh.

"Of course not," Naruto said. "Eighty-nine thousand, two hundred and fifty-five ryo, all told." Dead silence followed his statement. "What?"

"You're… not normal," Shino said.

Everyone stared at the bug user… and as one, laughed. Really, really laughed. Literal tears were rolling down the eyes of nearly everyone in the room by the time they were done.

"Was it something I said?" Shino asked, genuinely not knowing why everyone thought he was funny.

"Shino, bud," Kiba said, wiping his eyes, "it's times like this that I really appreciate you. You always manage to put things into perspective." Akamaru barked in agreement.

Tsunami smiled. "Does this mean that you'll do it? You'll save my father's life?"

Sakura raised a hand. "If I may?" she asked, as if she were still in class.

Honoka nodded in her direction. "Go ahead," she said.

"Um… According to Konoha Shinobi Law section four, subsection C, paragraph two… 'If, in the course of a mission, should the opportunity arise to take on a mission of a different nature, so long as it does not interfere with the completion of said mission, or in any part prevent the successful completion of the mission, a shinobi, if he or she is in his or her own good judgment, he or she may take it upon themselves to fulfill said mission, so long as sufficient financial compensation be accrued.' I think that's how it goes, anyway."

Naruto was stunned. "Sakura-chan, I could kiss you right now."

Sakura blushed, her cheeks becoming as pink as her hair. Hinata punched him in the arm. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Two things. One, you didn't remember that yourself. Two, for flirting."

"I wasn't flirting! Just showing my potential appreciation!"

"Dude, that was flirting," Kiba said from his bed.

"And you're not helping!" Naruto said, a wry smile on his face.

"Hey, don't hate on the cripple here. Just callin it like I see it."

"Great. Now the whole world's against me."

"Just the part that knows you, dobe," Sasuke said.

"Anyway, getting past all that… What's our plan?" Naruto asked, getting them back on track. "We can take the money and help… or we can run. What's it gonna be?"

They all looked at him, then each other. Not so deep down, they all knew what they all needed to do. Honoka, who had been leaning on the far wall all this time, slowly approached Tsunami. She gently pulled the bills from her hand and counted off eighty thousand ryo, before giving the rest back to her. "Team 7, also known as Team Kakashi, hereby takes on the job of guarding Tazuna, the bridgebuilder, from any and all harm until this crisis is sorted out. Deal?"

Tears of joy fell from Tsunami's eyes. "Tha—thank you," she whispered. "Gods bless you, all of you." She put her face in her hands as she wept. She turned and walked away crying all the while.

Naruto turned to face Honoka after a moment. "Do you see, Honoka-chan," he said softly. "I don't know how long you've been ANBU, so maybe you've forgotten… but this is what it feels like to actually help someone in need. Maybe you've been serving an ideal for so long, you've forgotten what it's like to deal with flesh and blood people. Don't you ever dare forget it." He turned to leave the room. "I'm going to start on dinner. Who wants stew?"

* * *

Later that night, after everyone had eaten a surprisingly good meal cooked entirely by Naruto—a meal that was cleaned up by a few of his shadow clones—Tazuna found Naruto on the back porch of his house. "Tsunami told me about what you did," he said as he sat down next to the boy. "I want you to know… I appreciate it."

Naruto nodded. "You're welcome. I'm just trying to do the right thing here."

"Like I said, I appreciate it." He held up a silver flask—at least, it shined silver in the waning moonlight. "I figure, for a kid, you've got some guts, standing up to your sensei like that." He took a long pull from the flask, grimaced, the handed it toward Naruto. "Want some?"

Naruto paused, the shrugged. "What the hell," he said. He grabbed it and downed a portion of the burning liquid. He swallowed, then coughed. "What is this, gasoline?"

Tazuna laughed. "My special home brew," he said. "Nothing else like it in the world."

"Lucky world," Naruto muttered as he wiped his mouth.

Tazuna chuckled, then fell silent as his gaze rose to the stars. They sat in companionable quiet for a time, then Tazuna asked a tough question. "Naruto? What do you think the odds of me surviving all of this are?"

Naruto frowned. "I don't know. I'm sorry, Tazuna-san, but I really don't know. To be honest, this is only my second mission. I'm good—maybe even one of the better fighters out there—but all this? Infiltration, rescue, saving-the-day kind of stuff? Not my specialty. I hit things. I hit people. I'm good at that. Not so good with people, though. If I had to guess… maybe a 50/50 shot. We're here if things start happening, but if they attack on the bridge, we might not be able to save you."

Tazuna nodded, accepting that. "I knew from the beginning that this was risky," he said. "Since I first got the crackpot idea to hire you kids—you know what I mean—I knew I might die in the process. But for the sake of my people, for the sake of the country, I have to finish that bridge. It's the only chance we have of crawling out of this hole we've been dumped into."

"Is this something, should it come to it, that you would die for?" Naruto asked.

Tazuna lowered his head. "If it would mean the safety of my country… if peace could come to us… yes. I would. My dreams are too big to let something like death get in the way."

Naruto stood up. "For your sake, and the sake of everyone else here, I hope everything works out the way we need. I really don't want you to die, even for the sake of your dreams."

Tazuna took another pull of the gastly swill of his. "Trust me, boy. Neither do I."

Naruto yawned. "I'm going to bed," he said. "I'm tired as hell, and I only got four hours or so of sleep last night. I need to be rested for tomorrow, it's gonna be a long day."

Tazuna nodded, somewhat groggily. "Give 'em hell, kid."

He smiled as he walked into the kitchen. "That's the plan, sir. That's the plan."

As he walked through the kitchen, he saw Inari standing in the living room, staring at him. Naruto sighed… _Here we go,_ he thought.

"Hey, Inari," Naruto said evenly.

"Is it true?" Inari asked. "Are you really helping us?"

Naruto nodded. "We are," he said. "From here on out, your grandfather is officially our client. We won't leave until this is resolved."

Inari studied him for a moment. "Is it because we're paying you now?"

Naruto covered his eyes with his hands. "That's not why we're doing it, kid. But we have rules to follow. For the danger that this all poses to us, our laws say that we can't do this except by the book." He uncovered his face. "But believe me… if we could have done it without the money, we would have. I tried."

"But why? Why do you wanna help? What makes this so important to you?"

Naruto thought for a second. "All my life," he said, "since I can remember, people have hated me. Not because of what I've done… but because of what I am. Who I am. And no… I can't tell you. It doesn't matter right now. I'm working past that. Maybe… maybe I'm doing this to try to alleviate some of the negative karma on me right now. I used to be not a very good person… mainly because I had no reason to be.

"But eventually, someone saw some potential in me, and gave me a reason to live. Gave me something to fight for. I have a purpose now. Now, I'm not the best person out there—I'm hardly what you would call a good person. The truth is, sometimes I'm an ass. But what kind of person could I be if I left here without even trying?"

"But you could die!" Inari said. "You barged in here, sticking your neck out for us when you know you might not leave alive!"

Naruto shrugged. "That's what good people do. I guess… maybe that's what it means to be a hero."

Inari cast his eyes down. "Do you really think that?" he asked.

The blond sighed. "I don't know. The day I start thinking of myself as a hero, I'll probably need someone to slap me straight. I'm just a guy that's in the right place at the right time, with the power to do some good. You can call me a hero if you want. But that's not why I'm doing this."

"If I call you a hero… will you be mad?"

Naruto laughed. "No way! It'll be pretty cool, actually."

Inari grinned. "Thanks… hero."

Naruto ruffled the boy's hair. "No problem, little bro. Go get some sleep, it's getting pretty late."

"All right," Inari said. With one more smile, he turned and ran upstairs.

Naruto let his breath out. He didn't really mind the kid… but being called a hero? That was way beyond his character. He couldn't be a hero.

Could he?

* * *

A/N: Man, I'm bad with cliffhangers. Mostly, honestly, I use em cause I'm lazy with my writing. But I think I left it at just the right point to keep ya'll coming back for more. The next chapter will pick up right as Naruto meets Haku, and later on the first part of the showdown… of ultimate destiny.

This chapter was a little bit longer than intended, but it's better this way. I needed all of this info to be in one place. Hopefully, it meets your standards. I do this for you, and for the support I get.

On another not entirely, my girl buddy I intended to go out with this Friday to celebrate my birthday with has other plans. So, if any of you live in the San Francisco bay area, give me a shout. Couldn't hurt.

Read and review, please.

P.S. In Soviet Russia, Chuck Norris make joke about you!


	19. Riptide

Well, here it is. Chapter 19. It seems like a long time ago that I began this saga, but I never really stop thinking about it. I've waited two years to get to this point, the climax of the entire Wave arc, and the crescendo will be reached today.

It was way back in February of 2008 that this all began, and it's not even halfway through yet. Time sure seems to fly by when you're having fun, doesn't it? In that time, I've been many places and done a lot of things. Not to wax nostalgic, but I was only nineteen when this all really began. I was writing on a P.O.S. laptop that I got off of e-Bay, and quite frankly, I paid too much. But, you know what? It doesn't matter. Here we are.

Today, the day a lot of you read this, I turn 22. Not that old, really, not at all. But I've seen a lot over the years, and it feels like I'm a lot older sometimes, especially when I'm around some classmates who are a lot younger than me—relatively speaking.

I'm not gonna keep you waiting too much longer. This is where it all comes down. The next three chapters you read will be the final ones of the Wave arc, and then we're onto the next phase of Rising star. It seems that I've been here too long, and yet, not long enough.

While writing this story, I've been thinking about a lot of things. Mainly, about another story I wanna write. So, if you haven't put me on your author alert list yet, do so, please. When the Wave is done, I'm gonna take a short break and begin my next story—tentatively titled "The Last Chance." Yes, it's gonna be another Naruto fic, but nothing like you've seen before.

That's it, I'm done yammering. The moment you've all been waiting for:

* * *

**Chapter 19**

The forest was even more silent than it had been the day before; it seemed that there was no living thing anywhere that Naruto could see or hear. Previously, there had been no tension in the air. Today, it was thick with it. It had been said that many animals were sensitive to such things; perhaps, knowing better, they had left the area.

_This is a bad idea, _Naruto thought as he slowly approached the spot where he had confronted Haku the previous day. _I should _so _not be doing this._

The afternoon sunlight slanted through the trees to create a golden aura in the air. It was beautiful weather; it had, in fact, been a beautiful day. The mood was ruined, though, for the permanent and temporary residents of the house of Tazuna with the knowledge of what was to come later on.

* * *

"You are _not _going without backup," Honoka said with a note of finality when she first saw Naruto at breakfast. He'd been cooking for about half an hour, creating a meal of pancakes, sausage, and oatmeal. Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata, Kiba, Inari, and Tsunami were already sitting at the table eating their food when she entered the dining room.

Naruto put down the pancake on his spatula and turned around. If the situation hadn't been so serious, he might have looked comical in his frilled apron lent to him by Tsunami. "I have no choice," Naruto said, wiping his hands off on his front. "I agreed to meet Haku. We didn't say, but it was implied that we'd meet alone. If I come with backup, he might take it a breach of the truce and attack, numbers on his side or not."

"And if he brings someone with him?"

Naruto shrugged. "I'll create a shit load of kage bunshin and hope for the best. In that environment, a swarm of clones should give me an opportunity to escape. Even without the chakra from the Kyuubi, I can manage to make about five hundred. There should be plenty of opportunity for me to get lost and get away, or at least hide."

"That's not good enough," Honoka said. "I can't risk this mission on hopes. The risk factor is too great to ignore."

Naruto turned back to the pan on the stove and checked the pancake there—it was just right to flip. He did so, deftly tossing it into the air with a twist and catching it smack dab in the middle. "Do you think I haven't been thinking about this since then?" he asked, turning back around. "I know the dangers I'm putting myself in. I wouldn't be doing this unless I thought I had a way out. And it's not like I'll be leaving the rest of you out of this." He grinned. "I have a plan, of sorts. More like an idea… but it should be enough."

"And that would be?"

Naruto turned to Hinata. "Just how far can your Byakugan extend?"

Hinata and Honoka smiled. "Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?" Honoka asked.

Naruto nodded. "Exactly," he said. "If this works out, I shouldn't need any help. But if this goes balls up, Hinata will be watching me the entire time, and will be able to send everyone in who can fight to back me up."

Honoka closed her eyes for a moment. "This could work," she said after a while. She locked gazes with Naruto. "But no risks," she said. "Let them make the first move, if it comes to it. But do not—_do not _get hurt. If you do, I will kill you. Think of this as recon… just observe, and report back. Clear?"

Naruto nodded. "That's the idea, Honoka-chan," he said. He held an empty plate to her. "Pancakes?"

* * *

It had been easy enough to retrace his steps through the woods; though spacious, there were enough landmarks to find his way back to the spot where he and Haku had met. He didn't know exactly what time that had been—Naruto didn't have a watch—but he guessed it was about 3 o'clock. He was determined to be there first, so he'd left early.

As it was, he had only been at the spot for a few moments when he sensed, rather than saw or heard, the approach of his enemy. Naruto made no attempt to hide, seeing as this was, more or less, negotiations of war. If he was as good as Naruto thought he was, hiding would be pointless, anyway. He would be quickly found… and doing so would most likely render their truce null.

Stepping silently on the forest floor, Haku approached Naruto from his two o'clock position. Naruto turned to him, making sure to keep his hands well clear of his kunai and his sword.

Though Naruto knew it was Haku, he would not have guessed it, based on his current garb. He wore a dark grey kimono with white trim, and under it was a green turtleneck sweater. His hair was done up in a bun, the bun inside a white cloth covering, with one strand each framing his face.

It was his mask that got the most attention, however. It was a mask worn by the Kirigakure hunter-nin division of their ANBU squad. How he'd come by it, or why exactly he persisted on wearing it when Naruto already knew his identity, Naruto did not know. But he knew that every shinobi had a style of clothing that they felt most comfortable fighting in… this must be his.

"You're early," Naruto said, as small smile on his face.

"As are you," Haku replied evenly. He cocked his head slightly. "Have you come alone?"

Naruto nodded. "My teammates made a stink about it, but yes, I am here by myself. I can wait while you search for yourself if you don't trust me."

Haku gave a quick shake of his head. "I don't exactly trust you. But you aren't the kind of man to lie in a situation like this. I imagine you have your honor."

Naruto again nodded. "I try," he said. "I don't have much else."

"I can imagine. But whether we trust each other or not is immaterial. I am only here to tell you what my master has told me to."

"Then do it," Naruto said. "We don't have all day."

Haku just stared at him for a moment. "Are you always this impatient?" he asked.

Naruto smirked. "Usually. I'm too energetic to have much time for patience."

"Be that as it may… Zabuza-sama has agreed to meet on the bridge in three days' time, under certain conditions."

"Conditions? Such as?"

"The first condition—only two warriors from your squad are permitted to show up. Zabuza-sama and I will abide by the same stipulation. Second, we fight until whoever is left alive is victorious. Nobody leaves the bridge until the matter is settled. Third—and this is the most important—if, and when, your side loses, you are to leave this country, never to return. You will stay out of our affairs, no matter what. When Zabuza-sama comes to claim the head of Tazuna, you are not to interfere."

Naruto inhaled sharply. He was afraid it might come to something like this. "Your first two conditions," he said slowly, "I can accept. I have negotiating power, true, but there is a small problem with the third."

"And that would be?"

"Yesterday, after I left you and made my way back to the others… I kind of convinced them to stay. Not only that, but the daughter of Tazuna somehow got the money to officially hire us for an S-class mission—defend her father, from Gato, and, by proxy, you and your master. So, you see… even if we wanted to leave, we couldn't. We're under contract."

"Ah. Well, then. This changes everything."

"It does."

Though Naruto couldn't see the other boy's eyes, he knew Haku was staring intently into his own. "We're going to fight, aren't we?"

Haku said nothing, merely holding his ground.

Naruto sighed. "Don't even think about it," he said. He raised up a fist into the air, opened it once, closed it.

"What did you just do?" Haku asked.

"I have a Hyuuga on my team," Naruto said. "I came alone, as I said I did. But she and the rest of my squad, plus the two uninjured from Team 10, are waiting at the edge of the forest at this exact moment. If you make any aggressive movement, or I give the last signal, they will be here in half a minute. I know—I timed it myself. I doubt that you're fast enough to get out of her range before we track you down to wherever it is that you're hiding, and trust me—three of those four are extremely accomplished trackers. There is almost no chance in hell that you can hide from us should we decide to find you.

"You say that Zabuza has three days before he can fight? No matter how strong he is, I highly doubt that he can fend off all six of us, even with you. You're probably high Chuunin in total skills—but together, we can take you out. I don't know how many of you there are, but trust me—we will take you down. We will destroy you.

"So, these are our terms: Meet at the bridge, two of us, as you said. I had already planned on that. Be there at high noon. Four enter, only one team leaves. Call it a deathmatch if you want, I don't care. I trust my partners. But I guarantee you—the rest of my team will be safe at home with Tazuna, and we will fight tooth and nail to the death to make sure he stays alive. If you have a problem with that… bring it on. I'm right here, and I'm not going anywhere until you agree to _my _terms."

Haku didn't move. He didn't make a sound. He might as well have been a statue. After an uncomfortable silence, Haku said, "You are very devious. I have no choice but to agree to your demands. I have one request, though. When I leave, you are not to try to find me, or my master. The next time we meet will be on the bridge. And you and I will settle this, ourselves."

"Agreed," Naruto said. "Now leave. Tend to your master. Have him as close to a hundred percent as you can, because I guarantee you that he will need it. My friends are not unskilled."

Haku nodded curtly. "I believe you. And if they are half as devious as you are… we will bring everything we have got." Without another word, he performed a Shunshin no Jutsu, disappearing from sight.

_Oh, we're devious, _Naruto thought. _Haku… you have no idea._

Naruto raised a fist into the air when he was certain that Haku was no longer in the area. He opened it fully, then lowered it until it was parallel to the ground. He counted off thirty seconds… and there they came, through the trees. Sasuke, Hinata, Kiba, and Shino.

"So?" Kiba asked, impatience on his face. "How'd it go?"

Naruto smiled. "Exactly as planned," he said. "Hinata's prediction that he would try to work in the sacrifice of Tazuna into the mix was dead on. Putting the pressure on Zabuza was his weak point. There's a chance we could use that against him when the time comes."

"You should have just let us come in and kick his ass!" Kiba said.

Naruto shook his head. "Not a chance. Me, plus any three of you… we might make it. But he'd kill one or two of us before we took him down, and that was a risk I couldn't take."

"What makes you so sure?" Shino asked.

"For starters, he's the second-in-command of the former Demon of the Bloody Mist, one of the Mist Seven Swordsmen. That alone should be a testament to his skill. Kiba, Akamaru can sense the relative strength level of ninja by their scents, right?"

The Inuzuka nodded. "Something like that. The fresher the scent, the better." He pulled Akamaru from inside his coat. "Go on, boy," he said encouragingly. "Find that bastard's smell."

Akamaru barked happily, then set to sniffing the forest floor. When he reached the point where Haku had stood the longest, he paused for a moment. Without warning, he ran back to Kiba and jumped into his arms.

"He's quivering!" Kiba said in surprise. "Naruto, you bastard, what kind of monster have you gotten us involved with?"

"I told you," Naruto said evenly. "He's strong. Maybe stronger than me. No offense, but definitely stronger than you."

"Bite me," Kiba said.

"But I didn't ask you here for shits and giggles. Shino?"

The Aburame nodded. "She's on," he said. Naruto had brought one of Shino's female beetles with him. While he had been talking to Haku, it had crawled off of him and up onto Haku's clothing.

Naruto smiled again. "Great. Now we can find him no matter where he is if we need to, even if he somehow changes his scent. If your bug can stay hidden in his clothes, we're set. If not, he should think it's just another beetle. I somehow doubt that he knows enough about the local insect population to know that it's not from around here."

"You really thought this all out, didn't you?" Kiba asked as he stroked his ninken.

"For the most part, yeah. But I'm torn between two decisions. Should we go after him, right now, or wait?"

"We go now!" said Kiba. "If we ambush him, he won't have a chance to counterattack. We're almost sure to win."

"As much as it pains me to say this," Sasuke said, "I agree with dog breath here. We should strike while Zabuza's helpless."

"No," Naruto said. "Not a chance. He'll be even more on guard right now, knowing that I have you guys at my back. I wouldn't put it past him to not even go to his HQ until he's sure he doesn't have a tail. Just because I promised him he wouldn't be followed doesn't mean I was telling the truth. I think the safety of his master really means that much to him."

"So… the only thing we can do until the fight it… wait?"

Naruto nodded. "Unfortunately, yes," Naruto said. "I wouldn't worry too much, though. If he sticks to his word, everything should be all right until then."

"And what exactly can we do to prepare?" Hinata asked. Naruto thought for a second, then had to admit that she had a point. What more could be done to prepare for the fight ahead?

"I don't know," he said. "We just need to be ready for what is sure to come. We cannot trust Haku to keep his word, just as he can't afford to trust me for mine."

"So… what now?" Hinata asked.

Naruto smiled. "Now, we go back to Tazuna's, and I start dinner."

That brought a smile to everyone's face. He now had quite a following at Tazuna's house.

* * *

Over the next few days, there was nothing to do but wait for the fight to come. Anticipation was thick in the air, but there was no joy. Tazuna and his family knew that the climax to their country's struggle was coming. It was the turning point in their history—either their future was assured of peace and prosperity, or they were to be doomed under Gato's rule.

The day after he met Haku in the woods, after breakfast, Naruto did exercises alone in the back yard of Tazuna's house. He couldn't go running—he didn't want to stray too far from his comrades. Instead, he got his blood pumping by jumping as high into the air as he possibly could, multiple times. In the end he lost count, but he kept on going. His stamina was improving; it was to the point where he could go just as long, just as hard, even without the help of the fox.

"Holy crap!" Naruto heard from the ground as he approached the apex of another jump. He looked down, and saw Kiba and Sakura staring up at him, open-mouthed. He landed gracefully, wiping his face with a towel he'd set on a tree stump.

"Hey, guys," he panted. "What's up?"

"You, apparently," Kiba said. "What the hell kind of technique were you using?"

"Technique?" Naruto asked. "No technique. I was just jumping… great way to get the blood flowing."

Kiba eyed him. "_Just _jumping? You were seventy feet in the air!"

Naruto laughed. "Yeah… I've got some pretty good leg strength. I used chakra to boost me, but a lot of that was just muscle, too."

"Wow," said Sakura. "You must have thighs of steel."

"I guess," Naruto shrugged. "It's just I've had a lot of strength training since we've graduated. You ever heard of Maito Gai?"

"The taijutsu master?" Sakura asked. "Yeah… what about him?"

"He's been giving me some instruction off and on since the Academy. Trust me, boot camp with him is no laughing matter."

"Wait a second… I thought that Hatake Kakashi was your sensei," said Kiba.

Naruto nodded. "He is," said Naruto. "But Kakashi said that Sasuke's and Hinata's taijutsu was levels above mine, and I needed some specialized instruction."

Kiba laughed. "I guess you weren't as great as the teachers acted, huh?"

Naruto smiled. "I guess not," he said.

Sasuke walked out the back door to see them clustered together. "What's going on?" he asked them.

"They were just watching me do some warm-ups," Naruto said nonchalantly.

"Warm-ups?" Sasuke said. "You planning on doing some training?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. I'm just gonna make some clones and have them come at me. It'll help me figure out my weaknesses, at least with my taijutsu. That's the area that I need the most work in. You and Hinata still have me beat there."

Sasuke eyed him. "Want some help?" he asked.

"Help?"

"We'll do the best kind of training—forget the clones. You and me, one on one."

Naruto cocked an eyebrow. "Just taijutsu?"

Sasuke nodded. "No ninjutsu, no genjutsu. Purely fists and feet."

The blond smiled at the raven-haired Uchiha. "Bring it on."

Sasuke nodded. He pulled his shirt off over his head, then tossed it aside. Naruto did as well with his sweat-soaked top. "Damn," they heard from the side from Sakura, but they ignored her for the moment.

"Don't you want to warm up first?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke smirked cockily. "You _are _the warmup."

They stepped away from the house, until they were closer to the trees than it. They faced each other, a couple paces distant. Sasuke put his hands together, palm to palm, and bowed shortly, crouching into the Uchiha defensive pose: horse stance, right foot toward Naruto, left away, right hand low to the ground, left arching up.

Naruto put one fist in his hand and performed his own bow. He slipped into his own stance, which was closer to what a boxer would fight with—chest and face guarded, legs ready to move quickly, left side toward Sasuke.

For a moment, all was still. Then, at some unseen signal, both sprang into action.

Sasuke leapt at Naruto, left foot swinging through the air with an accompanying whistle. Naruto stepped into it, grabbing him by the calf and thigh and tossing him away. Sasuke landed gracefully, but Naruto pounced on him, with a solid right foot sweep at his exposed shoulder. Sasuke twisted counterclockwise to avoid the blow, the flipped backwards, over Naruto, to land behind him.

"You're gonna have to do better than that," Sasuke said tauntingly.

Naruto cast a glance at the Uchiha behind him. "I'm not even getting started yet." He turned around in a blur and charged his friend, flying into a roundhouse kick aimed at his head. Sasuke ducked it, but didn't have time to retaliate as Naruto made another full rotation in the air and ax kicked him in the shoulder, forcing him to a knee. Naruto landed, prepared to drive the same foot into the front side of the shoulder, but Sasuke flipped backwards again to land in a crouching position.

Sasuke flew off from the runner's stance and swept a leg at Naruto's ankles. Naruto jumped, just enough to avoid the blow. Mid-jump, Naruto aimed a flurry of swift but not too powerful kicks at Sasuke, but he expertly parried the blows. Naruto landed, and Sasuke launched several sharp, swift blows at Naruto's torso.

Naruto took the first couple strikes, one in his left pec and the other in his gut, but he managed to tense up his muscles before any damage could be done. Blocking one blow by swatting the arm down with a stiffened palm, he used his other hand to uppercut his friend in the jaw.

Sasuke grunted as he took the impact, even if it didn't feel like Naruto was giving it his full force. He landed and backpedaled, just a foot or two, just enough to give him some breathing space. _When did he get this good? _he asked himself.

He decided to try another tactic, seeing as a straight-on conflict wouldn't be to his advantage. Naruto's reflexes, he remembered, weren't human.

He jumped into the air, knowing that his friend wouldn't be able to resist the invitation. Sure enough, Naruto leapt to meet him. While still going up, Sasuke swung at him with a closed fist. Naruto caught it in his own, and pulled him closer. Without the added leverage of the ground, midair combat could get tricky—the key was to get a hold of your combatant, and use it to your advantage. The problem was, neither had shirts on—which meant that grabbing onto his arm was the only chance Naruto had at beating him before they hit ground.

Naruto twisted his wrist to try to maneuver himself behind Sasuke, but he bent his elbow until they were almost face-to-face. For a split second, neither moved… then all technique was forgotten and they just started wailing on each other with their free hands, hitting whatever they could—face, head, shoulder, exposed sides—as fast, as hard, as they could. Both felt the impact to their bones, but neither could stop. Their hands were a blur as they jackhammered into each other, sweat already flying off of their bodies as they spun in the air.

Finally, they touched down onto the ground—the instant they did, the separated, then came together again almost faster than the eye could see. They ran at each other, swung in for a blow, sometimes connecting, sometimes parrying, sometimes avoiding altogether. Sasuke had the edge of speed, but Naruto's strikes were slightly sharper, more impactful, even if Sasuke could avoid them.

Dust was beginning to billow up into the air as they churned the ground with their unnaturally fast footwork. After striking—and departing—several times, each time almost quicker than the eye could follow, they ran circles around each other, vying for position, a great whirl of dust leaping into the air with the force of their movements. At last, when they each thought they had the greatest opportunity for success, they closed the gap in a flash.

"ENOUGH!" a voice from the house bellowed. Naruto and Sasuke stopped dead in their tracks, each with their fists less than an inch from each other's face. "I can't believe you two!" Hinata shouted as she stormed at them, rage in her expression. "What in the hell do you think you're doing?"

"We… were… just… sparring…" Naruto huffed, his fist still at Sasuke's face.

"What… he said," Sasuke agreed.

"_You call this sparring?" _Hinata shrieked. "Naruto, if you'd hit Sasuke, he'd have barreled into the house! He could have destroyed it! And you, Sasuke—Naruto would have gone head over heels into the tree behind him! Either one of you could have been killed! This isn't sparring, it's barbaric testosterone overload! That's enough from the both of you! Why the hell are you doing this to each other?"

Naruto slowly removed his hand from Sasuke's face, who did the same. "We… just needed… the exercise," Naruto said.

Hinata rolled her lavender eyes. "Then you should have run laps around the house or something!" She threw her hands into the air. "Men!" she shouted. "Such idiots!" She stormed back into the house.

Everyone outside was dead silent—Kiba and Sakura standing open-jawed at Naruto and Sasuke, while they slowly disengaged and righted themselves. "I think she's mad," Sasuke said evenly.

"Yeah… probably," Naruto replied. "Let's let her cool off for a while. Maybe we really did go a little overboard."

"A little?" Kiba said, indicating do him and Sakura. "A _little?_" He and Sakura, along with the entire side of the house, were covered in the dust kicked up by their fight. "When the hell did you guys get that strong? That fast? Even _I'm _not that fast!"

Naruto laughed self-consciously. "We've been training pretty hard. Actually… this is only our second mission since we graduated. The rest of that time has been spent at the ANBU compound, where we've been living ever since."

Kiba shook his head, a layer of dust cascading off of his hood. "You two are a couple freaks," he muttered. A muffled bark from inside his coat yipped in agreement.

"And I just had a _shower!_" Sakura said, looking dejected. Her long pink hair was fully encased in dirt and dust that she hadn't been able to avoid while watching the fight.

Sasuke rubbed his head, dust coming out of his own hair. "Sorry, Sakura," he said, looking truly apologetic. "Go ahead and take another one… I'll make it up to you."

"Promise?" Sakura asked, a glimmer of joy coming to her eye.

"Yeah, I promise," said Sasuke.

She smiled with glee and clasped her hands together. "Yay!" she said happily, then turned to go back inside.

Naruto turned to Sasuke, a bemused smile on his face. "How're you gonna make it up to her, exactly?" he asked.

Sasuke shrugged. "I haven't got a clue," he said.

Naruto laughed and clapped his friend on his shoulder. "Me neither," he said as he picked up his now almost-unrecognizable t-shirt. "Hope you can figure it out in time."

"Total freaks," Naruto heard Kiba mutter again as he walked inside. "Just total freaks."

* * *

Finally, the day of the fight had come. The atmosphere of the Tazuna house was tense as they all went through their morning ritual; bathing, breakfast, cleanup. To look at Naruto and Sasuke, the two who would be their representatives at the bridge, there was nothing to worry about. But they both knew that they were in the fight of their lives—quite literally.

They weren't fighting for themselves this time. It wasn't like the mission to the Nagasaki manor. There was no room for deceit, none for recon. They couldn't work their way into the Gato organization, even they had wanted to; they would be on guard for that sort of thing, and Gato would be too heavily guarded to attack anyway. To get to the head of the snake, first they had to destroy the strongest part of its body—Momochi Zabuza and his compatriot, the mysterious youth known as Haku.

Naruto still didn't know what to make of the boy. He'd only met him twice, but he thought that he knew, at least a little bit, how the boy worked. He knew his general strength level, and believed it to be about his own—if not slightly higher. But he didn't know what techniques he used, what his history was, or even where he came from. He was going into the worst kind of battle… one in which he had no idea who he was truly up against, no idea of his enemy's strengths or weaknesses.

He had washed the dishes of their breakfast himself, instead of having one of his clones do it. For the moment, he needed all the distractions he could muster. It was nine o-clock in the morning, only three hours to the designated time until the fight. He knew, from a couple viewings of the place in previous days, that it wouldn't take more than a few minutes to reach it at his full speed. He wasn't worried about that. But it was the waiting, the agony of the ticking seconds passing by that he might never be able to recover, that killed him slowly, steadily.

_I'm so screwed, _he thought as he scrubbed a pan. _I can't even use the full power of Sando right now, not without absorbing more elemental chakra. Without fighting someone who uses it regularly, and absorbing a lot of it, Sando can't wake up for an extended period of time. I can't take it from Sasuke and his Katon techniques—Sando once said that the link we share would prevent it from working properly. I should have asked Kakashi to use some of his jutsu a long time ago…_

_No use worrying about it now. I know plenty of techniques already. I already have everything I need. There's nothing else to do but go and do it._

_So why am I so… _

_Scared?_

"Naruto? Are you ok?" Hinata asked from behind him. She was the only one in the kitchen with him, the others having already left. She'd wanted to be there on the bridge with him, but Naruto told her that her Byakugan would be a critical early-warning system in case Gato's goons were to come for them while his top soldiers were busy with Sasuke and he.

Naruto rinsed off the pot and put it aside, then wiped his hands dry. "Yeah… I'm all right," he said. "I'll be just fine."

Hinata wrapped her arms around Naruto's torso, pressing a cheek into his chest. "I'm scared," she whispered. "I'm scared that you'll be hurt. Maybe killed. That you'll be beaten, and I'll be—be alone again." She looked up at him, pulling away slightly, a tear forming in each eye. "I don't want to lose you, Naruto," she breathed. "You mean too much to me right now. I can't be alone anymore. I'm still not strong enough."

Naruto caressed the back of her head, pulling her close once more. "Shh, shh," he crooned. "Don't worry, don't worry, I promise I'll be ok. I won't let anything happen to me, I swear. I know how mad you'd get if I let anything happen to me." He stroked her back slowly, up and down. "You'd never let me live it down, getting hurt by a punk like Haku."

Hinata sniffed. "That's right," she said through her tears. "So you better come back to me in one piece, all right?"

Naruto laughed softly. "That's the plan," he said into her ear. He bumped his forehead with the top of hers. "I'll drag myself back if I have to."

"I'll hold you to that," Hinata said into his shoulder. She pulled back again and looked into his eyes. "Be safe, please, for me," she said softly. "I love you."

"I love you to," Naruto said just as softly. He gently kissed her, merely pressed his lips into hers, but the convey of everything he felt for her was in that one, sweet, tender kiss. "I always will. Never, ever forget that."

"I won't," she said. He held her there for a while, tenderly clutched in his arms.

"I have to go get ready," he said after a while, gently disengaging from her.

Hinata sniffed, but nodded her head. "Go," she said. "But come see me before you leave."

"Of course," Naruto said with a smile. "The knight is always seen off by his princess."

Hinata laughed a rich, light laugh. "Go, you goof," she said, really smiling. "Go get ready to kick some ass."

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke left the house without much fanfare, though everyone who was there was at the front door when they exited. Tazuna, Tsunami, Inari. Kiba, Shino, Sakura, even Kurenai. Hinata, Honoka.

They lined the door, forming a short tunnel leading out the doorway, as if they were an honor guard. Tazuna was the last in the procession, a look of worry, anxiety, and extreme pride on his features. "You two… no, you _all _are some of the bravest people I've ever had the fortune to meet," he said, obviously not used to talking like this. "You're making up for the mistakes of a foolish old man, and saving an entire country at the same time. If you come back… no, _when _you come back safely, when this is all said and done, I swear to you, if there's ever anything you need, I won't hesitate to give it to you.

Naruto stopped in front of him. "I know, Tazuna-san," he said. "No pressure, right?"

The old man smiled. If the kid was cracking jokes right now, he had to have a solid plan. There was no way he was going to let them down.

"Go and make us proud, you two," Honoka said, a proud look crossing her.

"Keep everyone safe," Sasuke said. "And stick with the plan. Nobody leaves the house for anything. Stay together. And for Kami's sake—don't get killed."

That brought a smile to nearly everyone's face, even a small one to the ever-stoic Shino. "We'll do our best," said Sakura.

Naruto jerked his head. "Come on, Sasuke. We have a date in half an hour. Don't want to keep them waiting."

"Right," Sasuke said. They walked off, steadily in the direction of the bridge, to the farewells behind them.

Once they were out of earshot, Sasuke turned his head to Naruto as they walked. "So… what exactly is the plan, again?"

Naruto smirked. "We kick some ass, buddy. We kick some ass."

Sasuke nodded. "Of course. How could I forget?"

* * *

There we go. Two soldiers off to war to defend the lives of an entire country. They will fight… and people will die. That is the reality of way—people have to die to solve whatever conflict there is.

Recently, I picked up my copy of Rise Against's Appeal to Reason and began listening to it, often while writing. When the song "Hero of War" came on, I was blown—it was a song about the mistakes a soldier makes while blindly serving his country, and that's one of the themes I like to think this story is based on. That's the spirit that Naruto will have when he finally confronts Sarutobi when this is all over. Pretty spooky, huh?

So, I hoped you like this chapter. I worked pretty hard on it, if I have to say so myself. In any case, it's your opinion that counts. Read, then review, if you please. I'm not gonna beg—please, don't make me beg

Later, people. Take care. God bless. Happy hunting.

dead witch.


	20. Steel Clashes, Waves Burn

Wow. Chapter twenty. It's been a long and wild ride so far, hasn't it? I still can't believe that we've come this far. I say we, and not I, because a lot of you have been reading since the beginning. To those of you, thanks. For newer readers, I hope you've enjoyed the story so far. It's been a lot of fun.

This is the second-to-last chapter of the Wave arc. I hope you have enjoyed it so far. It's been fun (if somewhat, as Shikamaru would say, troublesome) to write this. I don't plan on stopping any time soon, but I have a lot of other ideas in my head. So if you haven't already put me on your author alert list yet, do so—I'll be having some new stories out soon.

My birthday was fun, for those of you who want to know. I went out and had some fun. Checked out Chinatown—that was pretty cool. Got some good coffee, read a book, talked to my parents back in the boonies. Basically relaxed.

Enjoy the story. Read and review.

* * *

**Chapter 20**

The day was much too cheery for the scene that was to fall under the brilliant noon sky. Not a cloud flew overhead to mar the brilliant blue dome overhead. There was no indication that a battle of epic proportions was to take place there, at that time and place. Why would there be? Mother nature was not at the beck and call of mere mortals, never at their command.

Yet, Naruto thought that it would be much more appropriate for storm clouds to line the horizon to match his mood. If his thoughts could affect and alter the weather, surely the sky would turn to black and a red moon would grace them overhead with its ominous glare. Nervous, pent-up energy, stored inside of him for the past four days was waiting to be released, if only he had a convenient target to vent his frustration.

Sasuke and Naruto walked side by side down the road that lead to the bridge. There was no need for stealth in their approach. Their enemies knew that they would be at the battlefield at the appointed time and place. They kept a watchful eye on the road, but knew that if any traps befell them, they could rise to the occasion. They said not a word—not a word was needed to be said. They both knew what they were getting into. It was for moments like these that they'd been training for, ever since they had graduated from the Konoha Academy.

Naruto reflected on how far they'd come since then, how much strength, knowledge, and experience they'd gained that would seem ridiculous from an outside view. For him, this warrior's path had begun the day he'd been born; he was created to be the shinobi he was. Everything he was, everything he believed in, lead him to be the man he was. Every hardship, ever struggle, every sweat-stained second of his life pushed him to be a better shinobi, a better man—a better person. He knew that life had not been fair to him, but he didn't begrudge it. Life was harder on some people so that it could be easier on others. There was no other way in the world.

Sasuke's journey had been shorter than his, but no less difficult. He'd had to grow up quickly the day his clan had been massacred by his brother—the brother who had been the same age that they were now. Were they his equal, at their age? Could they compare to the world's most famous engineer of genocide?

Naruto doubted it. If, for no other reason, the strength that Uchiha Itachi drew upon was probably built out of psychotic rage and malice. He knew what the Mangekyou was, and how it was achieved. Power such as that always came with a price, most often too heavy to bear. If granted the chance, Naruto would turn away such strength. Was his soul equivalent to whatever grudge Itachi had harbored toward his clan? Was Itachi's soul worth the price?

Naruto shook his head, banishing these thoughts. It would do no good to dwell on such matters. He had to prioritize, focus on the matter at hand. In just a few short moments, he would be locked in mortal combat with the boy known simply as Haku. In all truth, even with the vast library of experience brought on from Sando, and all the training he'd gone through in the past several months, he had no clue if he could defeat his foe. Somewhere inside, deep inside his soul, he was terrified that he would die. That he would not walk away from this bridge alive. That every one of his dreams and aspirations would vanish like smoke into the air around him.

_Dreams. What are my dreams? _Naruto thought softly to himself. _Just what do I want? What is my end goal? To live a long life? To be a great shinobi? What do I have to drive me?_

In truth, Naruto had never really given much thought to the idea of his own dreams. He'd never had the time, not while he was training, not while he was on his previous mission. It hadn't been until he'd met Haku, the boy whose dream was to make his master's dreams a reality, that he had begun giving it some serious thought.

_Just what do I want?_

Naruto didn't know. He just didn't know. He would lie awake at night, staring at the pitch-black ceiling above, Hinata resting contentedly by his side, thinking about just that. After all this was over—when he was ready to stop fighting, stop hurting—what did he want to do?

His mind strayed to Hinata. What she meant to him. What she did for his soul. He realized that in every possible future he could think of, she was there. He couldn't see himself living without her. The possibility never crossed his mind.

So, in a way… he was fighting for their future together, along with the future of the country of Wave.

It kind of put things into perspective for him.

"Sasuke?" Naruto said as they resolutely marched down the road.

"What?"

"Do you ever think about what you'll do when you retire?"

Sasuke looked over at him sharply. "Now isn't exactly the best time to plan for the future, Naruto."

"I know," he said. "But if I don't talk I'm going to think, and thinking is a distraction. So, tell me, what are you going to do when you settle down?"

"Talking is a distraction."

"Just humor me, ok? You're better company than my thoughts."

Sasuke sighed. "Settle down? I can't ever settle down. I have to kill Itachi, then rebuild my clan."

Naruto smiled crookedly. "Oh? How you gonna do that? Get a whole harem at the Uchiha complex?"

"Naruto…"

"Maybe ten, fifteen women? Have them all pop out two or three kids? I'm pretty sure there's some provision in Konoha law for that kind of thing."

"Naruto…"

"Of course, all the ladies will want you, so you'll always be busy. Maybe settling down isn't the best choice for you after all. Too much of a good—"

"Naruto!"

"…Yes?"

Sasuke sighed. "We're here."

Naruto stopped dead in his tracks. They'd rounded a bend in the road and were no more than twenty feet from the end of the bridge. "Oh, right." The time for jokes was over. From here on in, they'd have to be deadly serious.

They paused for a moment, scanning the bridge and surrounding waters. All appeared as it had the last time Naruto had seen, though he knew that, ultimately, that meant nothing. If any traps were there waiting, he would never know it until it was sprung. "What do you think?" he asked Sasuke. "Rush it, try to avoid trouble?"

Sasuke shook his head. "No." He checked the sun. "It's not yet noon, but that doesn't mean that Zabuza and Haku won't attack as soon as we step onto the bridge. Let's take it slow, but be on guard. They can appear any time. We can't afford to get careless."

Naruto nodded. "Good point. Keep your distance. We don't want to get in each others way if it gets hairy."

They approached the bridge cautiously, keeping about ten feet between them. There was no more need for words; the time was well past that. Instead, they needed to focus their senses to the world around them. It was all that would allow them to survive.

For minutes that seemed to stretch into hours, they walked over the bridge, getting ever-closer to the unfinished side that connected to Fire country. When they were about to the middle, Naruto felt, rather than sensed, a change in the atmosphere. "Sasuke…"

"I know," Sasuke replied tersely. "They're here."

In a blur, Zabuza and Haku appeared a dozen feet before them. Their Shunshin took them by surprise, and dashed backwards in unison.

"You're late," growled Zabuza with a laugh. "We've been here for hours. We were just about to come and hunt you down."

Sasuke matched his attitude. "We said noon, dumbass. And guess what? It's just about noon. It's not our fault if you're so eager to die."

Zabuza laughed, laughed so darkly that Naruto felt a shiver go up his spine. _Are all of the Mist 7 this crazy? _he thought. "Die? Someone's going to die today, little Uchiha… but I don't think it's going to be me. Not today." He turned to Haku. "You take care of the blond brat. I've always wanted to kill an Uchiha. Unfortunately, they're scarce game these days."

Sasuke tensed. It wasn't a good idea to mention that day to him. "Go, Naruto," he said softly. "Get out of my way. I don't care what you do or where you do it, but I'm going to destroy him, and it could get messy."

Naruto nodded. "Got it," he said. "Haku? Let's give them some room. We don't want to be caught up in their fight."

Haku nodded shortly, his masked face betraying no emotion. He turned away, and walked in the same direction that he and Sasuke had been going.

Naruto followed him, keeping his distance and an eye on Zabuza. As he passed the nuke-nin, he glanced sideways at the giant sword on his back. _So, that's the sword that earned him the title of Demon of the Bloody Mist. I hope Sasuke can handle it._

Zabuza seemed to ignore Naruto as he passed. All his attention was on the young Uchiha before him. Finally, Naruto was behind the nuke-nin, with Haku still walking away. _I could take him, here and now, _he thought. He hesitated just a half step, pondering if he stood a chance.

"Don't even think about it, boy," Zabuza said. "I'd cut you to ribbons before you could even think about drawing your sword."

Naruto gulped. That had been _exactly _what he'd thought about doing.

"Go, Naruto," Sasuke said. "I've got this covered. You handle things on your end and meet up with me later."

Naruto nodded shortly. "Got it. Kick some ass, Sasuke."

Sasuke smiled briefly. "Don't I always?" he asked. "Now beat it."

Naruto turned from his friend, wishing him well as he followed Haku. He knew that Sasuke was in a much worse position than him… but there was no turning back now.

* * *

Sasuke was trembling on the inside, but he struggled to maintain his cool as he faced off against the older, larger, and much more experienced shinobi that was Zabuza. He was in over his head, and knew it.

Both stood stock-still as they assessed each other. Zabuza's lean but muscular build suggested a body built for powerhouse techniques, without too much subtlety. It would be hard to be subtle with a blade such as he had, anyway.

Without doubt, Zabuza was stronger, faster, and probably more cunning than him. He probably had dozens of ways to defeat his opponents, especially in one-on-one situations. From what Sasuke knew, Zabuza specialized in high-level Suiton jutsu, which would only be amplified by the extreme abundance of water all around. Zabuza was, literally, in his element.

Sasuke's greatest stock and store was his array of Katon techniques. Surely, Zabuza would have many ways of dealing with those; after all, water was strong against fire, both in the elemental chakra wheel, and in nature itself. Sure, Sasuke knew other techniques, even some of differing elements, but his greatest familiarity was with the fire.

Somehow, he had to take the Suiton arsenal out of the equation.

_Water, water, everywhere. How can I eliminate it? How to stop him from drowning me?_

A flash of inspiration hit him. It was risky, though; it would take time to go into effect. If he could hold out… if he could stay alive, just for a few minutes… he might have a chance.

With a conscious struggle, Sasuke slipped from his on guard stance. "Hold on a moment," he said to Zabuza. "Let me take care of something, will you?"

Zabuza cocked his head. "Getting afraid, boy?" he asked sharply. "You should be. Do you have any idea who I am?"

Sasuke nodded. "Momochi Zabuza, former member of the Mist Seven Swordsmen, the elite of the elite. Of course I know who you are. I'm no fool. But even you could take a last request, if it is to be my last, right?"

Zabuza laughed. "What? Want to write a letter to mommy? Oh, wait, I forgot… your brother already killed her, didn't he?"

Sasuke's fist clenched. _Don't let him get to you… he's just trying to psych you out. _"No," Sasuke said. He reached into a pocket, and Zabuza tensed, ready to move.

It wasn't a weapon that Sasuke pulled out, though… but a cardboard pack. He flicked it open, and pulled out a cigarette.

"Your last request is… a smoke?" Zabuza asked with a great laugh. "This is a new one! Of all the things, you're going to smoke? Just how old are you, brat?"

Sasuke sighed as he fished for a lighter. "Old enough," he said, "to be fighting and killing. Listen, when you get a nicotine fit, you gotta do what you gotta do. I don't want my teammates to know that I smoke; they might think it's disgusting. Can we keep this between us?"

Zabuza laughed. "Go ahead, do it. I'll wait. It's not like it'll have time to kill you, is it?"

Sasuke ignored the taunt as he stuck the filter in his mouth, lit it with a flick of the lighter, and inhaled as he put the lighter away. "Guess not," he said with a puff. He stood there for a few moments, periodically inhaling, exhaling, until the cigarette was down to the filter.

When there was no more tobacco left in the cherry, he pulled another one from his pack and lit it from the end. "Stop stalling," Zabuza growled.

"I'm not stalling," Sasuke said as he began puffing on the new cigarette. "I really do need both. I'm an addict in the worst way." He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, drawing almost an inch's worth of ash and smoke. He released it, a great cloud of haze surrounding his head. "Damn," he muttered. "That felt too good." He finished it off, throwing the still-burning butt to the ground.

"Finally ready to die?" Zabuza said with malice.

Sasuke hocked a wad of phlegm over the edge of the bridge, down into the water, then another. "Yeah. Let's do this."

He got into a battōjutsu stance, his right foot pointed at Zabuza, his hand on his sword, ready to withdraw the finely-honed blade. "You… you're waiting on _me _to make the first move?" Zabuza asked with a cackle. "How eager are you to die, boy?"

"Eager enough," Sasuke said slowly. "But not so eager to let you do the honors. Trust me, asshole. I know what I'm doing. I've been trained by the best. I won't let you touch me."

"Hmm… it's been too long since I've used my sword… can't let it get _too _dull. Fine—if it's a duel you want… it's a duel you get." Zabuza seemed to smile beneath the bandages he wore over his lower face. "By day's end, you'll be cut to ribbons, your blood will feed the sharks. Say your prayers, boy."

"Prayers? I only pray to the Will of Fire. It will guide me." Sasuke smirked. "Bring it on… bitch."

Without warning, Zabuza charged Sasuke, drawing his blade from behind his back in one swift, practiced motion. Sasuke unsheathed his sword just in time to block the blow from landing, but the force behind it wasn't enough; Sasuke flew backwards, his wrists screaming in pain as he flew head over heels backwards, skipping off the concrete on his shoulders like a stone on water. How he managed to maintain hold of his sword, he had no clue, and it was a struggle not to land on its keen edge as he tumbled end over end away from his foe.

He caught himself, finally, after sliding a good distance on his back. "Bitch, is it?" Zabuza said ponderously. "I cut the arms and legs off of the last one who called me that. Perhaps I'll do the same to you once I have had my fun."

Sasuke righted himself, holding his sword in his right hand, massaging his right shoulder with his left. He'd almost dislocated it from the blow alone. _What have I gotten myself into? This guy is a monster! _"You can try," Sasuke said through gritted teeth. "But I won't go down easy."

Zabuza smiled under the bandages. "It wouldn't be fun if you did, punk." He rushed Sasuke once again, but Sasuke was ready for it this time. Instead of blocking with his sword, he leapt backwards to avoid the horizontal swing.

Zabuza was faster than he'd anticipated with his blade—in a flash, he twisted his one-handed grip to flip the sword and swing it the other way, it's monstrous keen edge flying at Sasuke as Zabuza advance. He instinctively bent backwards to avoid the swipe, and for just a flicker of an instant saw his reflection in the burnished metal as it flew inches from his face.

Zabuza swiped a foot under Sasuke's arched legs, knocking his feet out from under him, and viciously kicked him in the back to send him flying into the air. Zabuza jumped, chasing after him, swinging his sword over his head in an attempt to bifurcate the boy.

Sasuke just managed to move his blade into position when Zabuza's sword came crashing down onto him, sending him rocketing back down to the bridge.

Sasuke maneuvered with the scant second he had to work with and put his feet under him, driving as much chakra into his legs as he could to absorb the impact. He landed with a crunch, caving in the concrete with a three-foot wide crater. Dust billowed into the air, obscuring his vision, but also hiding him for a few precious seconds.

He needed to regroup; at this rate, he'd be dead before his plan could play out. But what could he do? It appeared that Zabuza would only use his sword as long as Sasuke stuck to his… and his skills were nowhere near close enough to deal. If he used his ninjutsu now… he wouldn't have a chance.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," Zabuza called out. "Where is this vaunted Sharingan? Where is the pride of the Uchiha? Did your brother kill its spirit when he killed your family? It that the true weakness of your clan? How pathetic. I wanted a fight. Instead, I'm chasing a rat."

Sasuke launched from the dust and rubble in a rage, his sword clenched tightly in his fist. "Eat _this!" _he screamed as he flew through the air at Zabuza. He swung almost wildly at the S-class ninja, though he was easily blocked.

"HAHAHA! You still have some fighting spirit! Good, good! It would be no fun to kill a broken boy!" Sasuke slashed at Zabuza from every angle, each strike deflected with sickening ease. "Give me everything you have! More!"

Sasuke Shunshined from one side of Zabuza to another, seeking an opening in the man's defenses, but could never find the chance he was looking for. He realized he was being played with—Zabuza was merely toying with the boy. The anger at the mention of his brother filled him with a rage that he could barely remember; technique all but thrown out the window, he wildly cut away, only to be thwarted time and again by the massive sword in Zabuza's hands.

Finally, after a few minutes of this, Zabuza seemed to grow weary of the game. Deflecting Sasuke's sword for the umpteenth time, he spun and delivered a powerful kick to Sasuke's chest, knocking the wind out of him and sending him over the edge of the bridge.

Fighting through his damaged lungs, Sasuke sheathed his sword and cast his arms out. Wires came out from under his sleeves and latched onto the railing of the bridge. The tiny spool system in his cuffs gave him a limited amount of wire to work with, and this was his only chance to use it. He had to make it count.

He swung under the bridge, gaining speed and momentum as he clung onto the wires. His damaged shoulders cried out in protest as he hung on and maintained the swing, but he ignored their cries of pain and gritted his teeth. By his count, he had a minute and a half before he could finally implement his plan. Until then he could do nothing but survive, survive and hope that Naruto was holding up his end of the fight.

He flew up over the other side of the bridge from where he had come, up, up and over, until he was twenty feet up in the air and on a downward arc going at an insane velocity directly at Zabuza.

"AAARRGH!" he screamed as he hurtled down at the nuke-nin, partly in fear, partly in anger, partly in a pure adrenalin-fueled rush. Down, down, down he flew at Zabuza, each second stretching into hours. For a scant he locked eyes with his foe, and knew that he had finally gotten the better of him.

Sasuke let go of the wires, releasing them to the wind, and when he was just a few feet away, drew his sword with all the speed and strength and desperation his body had in the most powerful single stroke he'd ever pulled.

For all of that, Zabuza was still fast enough to swing his sword up to defend himself, but the pure force behind the blow knocked him to a knee with a grunt. For an instant, Sasuke was suspended above Zabuza, eyes locked in mutual hatred.

Sasuke scrunched his legs under him, then kicked at the flat of the blade to push him away. He rolled and stood before Zabuza could recover, and held it before him at the ready. "Having fun yet, Zabuza?" Sasuke asked. "If so—this is gonna be a _blast._" He tossed his sword into the air above him and flew through hand signs. "**Tajuu Katana Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**" Sasuke declared, and several dozen swords appeared in the air around him, identical to the original. Using the speed that was his inheritance from his family, he plucked several out of the air and threw them at Zabuza, weaving left and right to catch them before they hit the ground. Zabuza was able to dodge or block all of the summoned swords, but the smoke from each dissipation made it increasingly hard to anticipate, or even see, the projectiles.

Finally, Sasuke had run out of swords… but it was Zabuza now shrouded, unable to see. He smirked under his mask—loss of sight was nothing, _nothing _to the master of the Silent Death.

He heard the quick steps of an approach to his left; when he knew that Sasuke was within range, he swung it that way viciously. He felt contact—then heard a soft _poof _that indicated a dispersal, similar to what the swords had made. _No! _he thought. _The swords were a distraction! _A figure broke in through the smoke right in front of him, flying through the air, sword ready to chop him from head to groin. Zabuza had just enough time to batter him away with the flat of his blade, but he disappeared too. _Another clone! _Zabuza now knew what the game was. Sasuke would keep sending clones in to distract him—but from what?

Zabuza heard a thunk at his feet. He looked down to see something that made his blood run cold—a paper bomb. "Shit!" he shouted and rolled to the side as it exploded, peppering him with gravel shrapnel. He managed to block his torso and head with his sword, but his legs were dusted liberally with stones, opening gashes from his mid-thigh to his feet. He winced as he righted himself; that would hurt in the morning.

From the newly-risen dust cloud came two more figures at different angles. "Damn clones!" Zabuza shouted. "You aren't the only one who can do that, punk!" He dropped his sword and flew through hand signs in a blur. "**Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!**" he shouted, and two water clones formed around him. One each took on the Kage Bunshin sent by Sasuke, easily swiping them down from mid-air.

"Is this it?" Zabuza shouted into the air. "Is this the limit of your skills? Sending in your clones to do what you can't?"

"Not even close!" Sasuke replied. "Eat this! **Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!**" A huge gout of fire came rushing towards Zabuza, almost too large and hot to avoid. He just—_just _managed to escape to the right, the searing heat of the flame scorching his side, but his clones weren't fast enough. They were consumed by the fire—

And twin columns of flame erupted from where they stood, shooting fifty feet into the air as if they were made of gasoline.

"What the hell? What kind of fire is that? How could you make water combust?"

Zabuza heard laughter through the smoke and ash. "I've been waiting for this," he said. "I've never actually used this technique in a fight. Just never had the chance to try it out. But it's always worked in practice."

"What technique? How could you—" Zabuza's eyes went wide as Sasuke confidently walked through the smoky shroud. "The water… you altered the water in my clones."

Sasuke chuckled. "Nothing so simplistic," he said. "Even a fool like you should be able to figure it out. Look." He pointed out over the side of the bridge. Zabuza turned his head quickly to where Sasuke indicated.

"Oh, no," he said. The water had a haze to it, as if it wasn't even water anymore. "You turned the water to oil." Zabuza turned his head at the Uchiha, rage in his bloodshot eyes. "How the fuck did you turn water into oil?"

Sasuke smiled. "This fight was over even before it began," he said. "Before we fought—what did I do?"

Comprehension dawned on Zabuza. "The cigarettes," he muttered. "You smoked—then spat over the side."

Sasuke nodded. "I stored the chemicals in the cigarette smoke in my body, exhaling just enough to convince you that nothing was amiss. That's why I needed two—to make up for what I lost. I imbued my saliva with chakra, pushed all of the pollutants into it, and launched it into the water. Now, there isn't a drop of water in a mile that isn't toxic. It should wear off in about an hour, but for now… you can't do any of your signature jutsu without me blowing it up, and you know it. Admit it, Zabuza… you're finished."

Zabuza stared at the boy… and a smile came to his eyes. "Finished? No, not yet, I don't think." He laughed. "Foolish boy… you just signed your own death warrant."

Sasuke went on guard. "I don't think so. I'm free to use all of my jutsu now, and your water techniques are out the window. There is nothing you can do to touch me anymore. Just run—run away, and never return."

"Run? No. Not from you. I'm too close to my goals to run. I won't let a little brat like you stop me at this point." He vanished with a Shunshin, and Sasuke looked everywhere he could see, but Zabuza was nowhere in sight.

_Where the hell did he go? _Sasuke asked himself.

The air pressure began to change noticeably. _What in the hell…_

The air became thicker around as a mist began to form all around him. Sasuke actually saw water vapor creep in from the sea below the bridge to gather above it. It was then when he realized just how dangerous a position he was truly in. _Shit! How could I forget! He's infamous as the master of the Silent Killing technique, assisted by the Kirigakure no Jutsu… he can hide in it and not make a sound, while honing in on me with ease. All the while I'm a sitting duck._

_On top of that—the gas is flammable. If I use any of my Katon, I'll go up in flames as soon as Zabuza._

"Are you afraid yet?" Zabuza's voice called out from behind the mist. "Do you now know how outclassed you truly are?"

Sasuke turned to the voice, his sword pointed at the source. Where was he?

"To be lost in the mist can bend the mind to terror," Zabuza said, his voice coming from his other side now. "Not knowing where you are… where I am… you begin seeing phantoms in the air about you. You never know when I'm going to strike… or even if I'm here still."

Sasuke's pulse skyrocketed. He was in a worse position than before, and it was all his fault. He would have to use _that _jutsu—

_No! I can't control it yet! There has to be another way! Just think, analyze the situation. Now, how can you find him without moving around blindly?_

He closed his eyes, stretching his senses to their breaking point. _Think, think. To get here, he has to walk… he can't jump reliably through the mist._

His eyes opened with inspiration. _That's it! _He shifted his grip on his sword to point it at the ground, and plunged it several inches into the concrete. _This could work. It has to work. _He crouched next to the blade and put a finger lightly near the middle, on the edge. It was a detection technique taught to him by Gekkou, when he had still been in kenjutsu boot camp. Sometimes, when the conditions were right, a sword could act as a tuning fork and pick up subtle vibrations in the ground. When all else failed, it could give one a half second warning when the rest of your senses failed.

"I've got to hand it to you," Sasuke said. "You've put me in a really tight corner. But now here's one for you: do you think that you can kill me before I blow the both of us sky high? Because that's the risk you're taking right now, Zabuza. I guarantee you, I can flick my lighter before you cut my hand off.

"On top of that, I know that you'd need to be close enough to you water clone to control it. Close enough, in fact, that you'd need to still be in this mist. Clones are never as powerful as the original, nor as fast. I'm positive I could take one if it came to it. So what are you going to do, Zabuza? Leave, and survive to fight another day—or come at me, and get the both of us killed?"

The mist was silent for several long moments as the nuke-nin considered Sasuke's words. "I have no fear of death," Zabuza said. "You can't be afraid to die to do the things that we are called to do. So, if I'm to die today… I'll take your soul with me to hell!"

"Bring it on," Sasuke said evenly as he closed his eyes and focused all his attention to the edge of his finger. "I'm ready."

"As you wish!"

_There! _The sword cut Sasuke's finger, even though he hadn't so much as twitched. _He's coming! _He opened his eyes and stood up, drawing the sword from the ground and held it diagonally across his chest. An instant later, the massive blade of Zabuza's clashed into it, once again nearly pushing Sasuke's shoulders out of socket, but he held on—much to the surprise of the rogue shinobi. "Got you, asshole!" Sasuke snarled. He kicked Zabuza's hands, startling him more than hurting him, and actually forced him to lose his grip on the massive blade. With another swift kick the sent it flying away through the air to land somewhere in the distance. He dropped his own blade and sent the remaining wires under his sleeves around to wrap Zabuza in a tight cocoon.

Zabuza roared and flexed, popping several of the high-grade strands, but Sasuke threw more and more out of the spools, wrapping him as tightly as possible. When he ran out, he leapt backwards, leaving just enough space between the two. "**Doton: Tsuin Doryuu Heki!**" be bellowed, causing twin walls of earth to rise before and behind Zabuza, crushing him between with a sickening crunch.

He knew that this wouldn't hold him for long, if at all. It was time to use the most dangerous technique he knew. Flashing through a set of hand signs, he concentrated on his secondary elemental chakra—

"_**Chidori!**_" he shouted, holding his left arm with his right hand to stabilize it. Should he falter now, he could hurt himself much more than his foe. A surge of blue and white lightening gathered around his hand, spurts of electricity seeking the ground around him, illuminating the mist around him. The sound of chirping birds came with the extreme mass of energy in his hand; this was why it was critical to incapacitate Zabuza. It would be impossible to sneak up on him with this jutsu, possibly the only one that could finish the fight, right here and now. "This is the end!" Sasuke shouted as he prepared to rush towards Zabuza. "I'll see you in hell!"

He dashed towards the columns of concrete that encased Zabuza, knowing just where to strike to destroy his heart. "AAARRGH!" he shouted as he thrust his fingers through the air.

Out of nowhere, a wall of ice formed between him and the wall. It was too late to stop the thrust; he plunged through the ice and into the earth, but most of the energy had been used to shatter the ice, and had only just crumbled the wall before Zabuza.

Zabuza looked down at the Uchiha, a grin under the mask apparent in his eyes. "Well, well, well," he said as he pulled the wires from his body. "It looks like my apprentice has defeated your friend." He stepped over the rubble, advancing slowly on Sasuke as the mist cleared. "We win. Now, do me a favor… and die."

Sasuke's blood ran cold when he realized that he had nothing left in him and knew that he could no longer defend himself. He was about to die… the battle was lost.

_This is not good.

* * *

_

A/N: Well, there it is. I hope I satisfied everyone who read this. Truthfully, it's not how I wanted the fight to go, but when I wrote it the first time, I realized that even now, Sasuke's skills would be nowhere near close to Zabuza's. So I had to make him a little more devious than he would have been. Hey, if you gotta cheat to win, it's what you gotta do.

I'm announcing a new contest. I'm looking for three original characters who will make an appearance during the preliminary fights in the Chuunin exam. The winner will have three characters appear in my story in later chapters, during the Chuunin exam arc. Not much of a contest, I know, but I want ya'll to be involved. They will be there for reasons that will be shown later on. Till then, get those brains working!

That's about it for me. The next chapter should be up by Thursday or so. Keep your eyes peeled. Oh, and if any of you happen to have any music selection suggestions, I'm all ears. Always looking for new tunes.

Be safe. Look both ways before you cross the street. Don't take candy from strangers. And, of course, review.

dead witch


	21. Breaking Waves, Saving Grace

A/N: This is it: the climax of the Wave arc. This is where it all ends. From here, anything can happen. Who knows what will come in the future of Rising Star? Even I don't have much of a clue. But I can tell you this: it'll knock your socks off.

This update came a lot sooner than I thought it would. That's the way life is.

I don't have too much more to say. Read on, and enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter 21**

Naruto walked warily by Haku down the bridge, with barely ten feet separating them. There was no agreed-upon time or place for their fight to start… Haku could attack at any time. Naruto thought that he could defend himself if Haku made a rush at him—but he didn't know. He decided to wait it out, let the peace between them play out. He wanted to avoid the fight for as long as possible.

No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't get a read on the masked boy. Obviously, his face betrayed no emotion; it was hidden. But other than that, his body language exposed nothing. He seemed utterly relaxed and at peace with his surroundings. It was like he didn't have a care in the world.

Naruto decided to set the tone. He broke into a sprint down the bridge, and Haku followed suit, keeping the distance between them exactly the same. The bridge was vast—they ran for several minutes before Naruto stopped, not the slightest bit out of breath. Haku stood beside him, facing the same way they had been going, still just ten feet distant.

Naruto turned to him, Haku eerily mirroring his move. "Before we do this," Naruto said slowly, "I'd like to ask a question."

Haku nodded. "If you wish."

Naruto inhaled evenly. "You don't seem like that bad a guy. But you have to know how horrible your master is. Why do you work for him, when all he does is fight for the highest bidder?"

Haku stared at him through the slits in his mask. "Zabuza-sama took me in when nobody thought I was worth anything," he said. "He gave me a purpose, when before I had nothing. I was an orphan, living on the streets. I begged for scraps of food, foraged through garbage to survive. I would have died there, in the snow, if Zabuza-sama hadn't taken me with him."

Naruto shook his head. "And that's it? That's your entire reason for—for all this?" Naruto cast his hands wide. "Look around you! You're standing on the dream of an entire country! This is the dream that you're helping to kill, just by being here!"

"I know." Haku's answer took Naruto by surprise. "I've realized this since Zabuza-sama accepted the contract. But it is not my place to question him. He has his own dreams. It is my duty as his tool to strike where he tells me to strike. A tool is not allowed to deviate from its path."

Naruto sighed. "Not you, too!" he shouted. "Let me guess—Rule 52, right? That rule is complete and utter bull shit!"

Haku cocked his head to the side. "Rule… 52?" he asked.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. It's one of the rules taught to all Konoha shinobi, as a way of instilling discipline. '_A shinobi is a tool. A tool never questions what its use is for. A tool never says no to a task. A tool only completes the task at hand and is always ready for the next.'"_

Haku was silent for a moment. "That is similar to what Zabuza-sama taught me," he said. "But it wasn't as a series of rules. It was a lesson taught to me long ago… when I still sometimes questioned him."

"And what happened when you questioned him?"

Haku seemed to stiffen. "He… would occasionally kill someone. He has no fear of using violence as a classroom."

Naruto ground his teeth. "Are you serious?" he shouted. "This is the guy you follow? Someone who would kill just because you want some individuality? Where is the choice in it? Where is the—the basic humanity?"

"Humanity? There is no humanity. He simply does what has to be done to achieve his dreams. For several long years, he's been working toward his dream. After this contract is completed, he can finally achieve it."

"And what is this dream that's so worth killing other's dreams for?" Naruto asked.

Haku contemplated Naruto, as if wondering if he could understand. "One day," Haku said, "my master wishes to gain enough money to hire every nuke-nin he can and overthrow the Yondaime Muzukage and end his regime. Under him, Kiri has lost much of its power and influence. He wishes to gain control—for a time, at least—and restore it to its lost glory."

That gave Naruto pause. This was beginning to sound eerily familiar. "The Mizukage… you're talking about the host of the Sanbi, aren't you?"

Haku nodded. "Yes. It is common knowledge that he is the jinchūriki for the three-tailed demon. Why?"

Naruto held up a hand. "Wait a minute, let me think." He turned from Haku, not even worrying that he could be attacked from behind. Dots were connecting in his head that he hadn't seen before now. Could it be a coincidence? What were the chances, exactly? What were the odds?

"What are you thinking?" Haku asked, genuine curiosity in his tone.

Naruto turned to him. "Haku," Naruto said evenly. "I don't think that we should be fighting right now. This is not the time or place for us to be at war."

"What do you mean?"

Naruto shook his head. "This is the second official mission I've been on," Naruto said. "My last one was a black op. I went undercover with my teammates to assassinate a lord that was betraying secrets to the Sand village."

"So?"

"So… one of his bodyguards was a former member of the Mist Seven… just the same as your master. I think that there's something going on here. Something that we can't see yet. But to run into two of that squad in two missions… there is no way that it can be a coincidence."

"Which of the Seven did you fight?" Haku asked sharply.

"The one called Yamamoto… the one who used his blood as a weapon. I and my cell killed him after he nearly did us in. He knew that we were after his employer, but didn't do anything to stop us. But he intercepted us before we could get away after the deed was done. We fought, and nearly died… but we beat him to the ground."

Haku turned his body slowly. "Yamamoto… we have recently heard of his demise. My master held him in high regard. He was to join us when we held our coup on the Mizukage."

Naruto nodded. "He asked me… all of my team, actually… to destroy him if we had a chance. We ignored his plea, even though it was his dying wish."

Naruto suddenly felt the killing intent flowing from Haku in waves. "If that is the case… Zabuza-sama would want you dead. It is my duty to fulfill his wishes."

Haku was fast—faster than Naruto. He whipped a spray of senbon at Naruto, who didn't have time to get out of the way completely. He dodged to the right, covering his face with his forearms. They, along with his left shoulder, were perforated with the acupuncture needles. One actually managed to slip by his guard and hit him on the plate of his hitai-ate; the sharp tone rung in his ear as the pain of the needles hit his brain. The dense mesh of his top prevented them from penetrating more than a half inch, but they were numerous, and hurt like hell.

He hit the ground and rolled, taking care not to brush the needles against the ground. He dashed to the side as soon as he got to his feet and ripped the senbon from his forearms as he moved, flinging them back at their owner.

It seemed that he didn't have nearly the skill with the needles that Haku did, however. They went wild, flying in a broad pattern which the masked boy easily avoided. Nevertheless, he ripped as many as he could from him before Haku could retaliate, tossing each and every single one away, hoping against hope to score a mark.

It wasn't to be; Haku actually caught the last volley of needles bare-palmed and calmly examined them. "There isn't much blood," he remarked stoically. "You must have some armor under your clothes."

Naruto nodded slowly. "My armor _is _my clothes. Nearly impact-proof, disperses blows, even stops kunai from penetrating, under the right circumstances."

"Ah. The head it is, then." He pulled a double-sided kunai from his pouch and dashed at Naruto, aiming a swipe at his left temple. Naruto pulled his own standard-issue kunai from his hip holster and blocked it, bare inches from his head. Haku withdrew it and aimed for a slash at Naruto's throat with the other blade, but Naruto fell back in time to avoid it. He moved to the offensive, swiping at Haku's arm, hoping to cut him too bad there to hold his weapon. It came to him that he didn't want to kill the masked boy—he wanted the chance to talk to him. But to do that, he'd have to beat him, and doing that without permanently injuring him would be much more difficult than outright resorting to killing.

Haku chased Naruto as the latter backpedaled, attacking almost more swiftly than his eye could follow with his unusual kunai, stabbing, thrusting, slashing, feinting, always looking for a way to get past Naruto's defenses and puncture him in the throat or head.

Naruto was barely able to keep up. Haku clearly had the advantage in speed, and the fight had barely begun. If he was going to have a chance to fight back, he'd need some space and time to work out a strategy.

After deflecting yet another thrust aimed at his eyes, the leapt straight into the air and tossed his kunai down at Haku. The masked shinobi deflected the dagger with ease, but in the split-second distraction it afforded, Naruto formed his signature cross-shaped hand sign. "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**" he said aloud, a dozen clones surrounding him. He grabbed one by its feet, who did the same to the one above it, who continued the chain until most of them were linked in a long line.

The real Naruto landed first, then twisted into a rotation that spun the whole chain in a tornado-shaped funnel above him. The remaining clones dashed at Haku, their hands clutching phantom kunai that they attacked with. They were each dispatched easily, but the haze that surround him was just enough to distract him from the real purpose of the attack; with a heavy snap of his body, Naruto launched the entire chain of clones at Haku at a high speed, one following right behind the other.

Haku sliced the first clone, then the next, then the next, one right after the other, his superb speed allowing him to handle even this level of technique. Naruto burst through the smoke after the last clone had been defeated, his sword drawn from over his shoulder. The added reach was enough to startle Haku, who was now suddenly at the defensive. Naruto slashed at Haku's head from above, but Haku caught it on his kunai. Naruto still continued to press against him, instead of disengaging, pushing him across the bridge concrete until he was against the railing.

_That's it! _Naruto thought triumphantly. _That's how I'm going to beat him! He's fast, but his physical strength is shit! If I can eliminate his godlike speed, take it out of the equation, this fight is mine! _He quickly readjusted his grip on his sword to apply more pressure forward, forward, forcing Haku down onto a knee as he struggled to hold Naruto at bay.

Haku let go of the kunai with one hand, maintaining it with the other, bracing it with his right hand. "Concede!" Naruto barked as he put yet more of his weight on his sword. "You can't do anything from there! I'm stronger than you, and you aren't going anywhere!"

Haku looked up sharply. "There is no need to go anywhere," he said. "I have you right where I want you!" With the hand that wasn't gripping the kunai, but bracing his other, he flew through a swift set of one-handed hand signs.

_What the hell? That's not possible! _Naruto flew backwards, backtracking as quickly as possible. If this wasn't a bluff—

"**Hyouton: Sensatsu Suishou!**" Haku shouted. Naruto actually saw the moisture in the air rush together to collect on the ground and form a puddle. From that spot of water, dozens, if not hundreds of needles made of ice came flying at him, even more quickly than the thrown ones had.

Again, Naruto couldn't get away in time. He shielded his face and neck, but his entire front, miraculously save for his groin area, was punctured with the deadly icicles. He felt them hit the bones in his arms and legs, puncture his abdominal region, and actually speared through the flesh on his upper forearms to poke out through the side. His mesh body armor did no good—these needles were sharp all along the length, not merely pointed like the senbon he'd previously faced.

He cried out in pain; aside from the punctures, the needles were ice cold. With that many dozen perforations, it was impossible to ignore the pain. It was a miracle that he wasn't dead from the blows; how they'd missed puncturing his heart, he didn't know, but several were grouped together in his chest, too close for comfort.

It was the pricks in his gut that caused him the most pain. They'd hit the seals that, in order, kept the Kyuubi inside of him, and kept the fox's chakra from intermingling with his, kept it away from any interaction with him at all.

Naruto suddenly felt a surge of chakra come from his gut, and an intense burning sensation said that the seals were straining to contain the massive reservoir of power restrained in him. _Not now not now notnownotnownotnow _he thought irrationally as his tenketsu went into overdrive to protect his body from further harm from the demonic chakra that was beginning to surge through him. _Thiscan'tbehappeningthisisn'thappeningnonotnow—_

Finally, the dam broke. With one final gush of force, the seal the Hokage had placed onto Naruto broke. A red aura of chakra encased Naruto for a split second; in the next, it surged outward in a massive dome of crimson. "_**AAAARRRGGGHH!**_" he shouted, throwing his arms to the side, arching his back. The needles flew out and away, a spray of blood following each closely before the wounds closed as the Kyuubi's chakra healed him automatically. He screamed in primal rage as the power of the fox overtook him. He was beyond reason or rationality now; this time, his base instincts had taken over his thoughts.

The Kyuubi himself hadn't yet surfaced. It was merely the power of the chakra itself that drove Naruto wild. It was too much to handle, too much for anyone to handle, it was impossible to reign it in, to control.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, in the one small part that was rational, he told himself to get a hold of himself or he would be lost to the beast inside of him. _Focus! _he shouted at himself. _Don't let it take over! If the Kyuubi takes you, you may never be yourself again! They might have to kill you!_

But there was no chance for control. He was wild, unrestrained, unfocused. There was all this power inside of him, with nowhere to go. It was slowly destroying him from the inside out, but he didn't care, he was finally free—

_No! _Naruto shouted mentally. _This isn't happening! Focus! Pull it together!_

Naruto felt the beginnings of control appear, as if threads of hope came before him. He visualized the inner workings of the cave where the Kyuubi resided. Using the meditation techniques taught to him by Sando, even in the midst of this torture he was able to put himself at the gates of the beast in his belly. There, for a few brief moments, he knew that he'd be disassociated from the pain he felt on the outside. He intended to take advantage of every second here he could. Time was of the essence.

"Hey, Kyuubi!" Naruto shouted through the bars of the cage. "Wake up! I know you're there! We're in some deep shit right now and I need your help!"

For a moment, nothing stirred in the darkness. Then, a heavy thump and the sound of nails scratching on the floor resounded and echoed through the cavernous cage. From out of the darkness came the massive body of the fox, gleaming slitted eyes shining in the gloom.** "There you are,"** he grumbled. **"I've been expecting you long before now. That treasonous Hokage of yours seals me from you. Me! The great Kyuubi!"**

"Yeah, yeah, I know!" shouted Naruto. "You can be pissed off later! But right now, we have a situation, and I can't handle it on my own!"

The jowls of the fox seemed to curl up into a smirk. **"I can feel it from here. The seal placed on you broke, and you can't contain the pent-up flow. That's what happens when you tamper with a seal as strong as the one placed on you by your father."**

"Enough of that!" Naruto said. "We can argue later. Just help me right now, and you can bitch all you want when this is all over!"

The Kyuubi turned his head to the side. **"Help? Now, why would I go and do a thing like that? If you die, I'll be released. Do you think that I **_**like **_**sitting in this cesspool the Yondaime created for me?" He cackled. "I'll be free to rampage as I see fit. **_**That's **_**what I love to do!"**

"You idiot!" Naruto shouted. "That's the worst possible scenario! If you go free, anybody with the right knowledge could pick you up and use you for their own purposes!"

In a blitz of motion, the fox had pressed his muzzle against the bars of his cage, teeth bared, saliva dripping out of his mouth in splashes. **"Don't you **_**dare **_**speak to me of purposes!"** he growled. **"I am the Kyuubi! I am a living mass of chakra, a living engine of destruction! My purpose is war! Destruction is what I exist for! You, you would leave me locked up forever in this pit, never to escape! At least if I got another host, I would be free to fight, to destroy, to wreak the carnage that I truly desire!"**

"You want carnage? You want to fight? You want war? I'll give you your fucking war! I'll work to master your chakra, I swear to you! When I do, you, through me, will be unstoppable! When you're unleashed on my enemies, there won't be a man or woman alive who won't fear your name!"

The fox laughed**. "You fool. The very gods fear me. What more could you do?"**

"I can give you an outlet to fight," Naruto said. "Face it—without me, or any other host, you're just a dumb brute. It takes a host to give you the intelligence you have right now. But if we work together—if you give me the power to use you—we can make the world tremble. Tell me, Kyuubi… when was the last time you were really given the chance to let go?"

The fox thought for a moment**. "It has been a long, long time,"** he said contemplatively**. "Since before you, or your father, or even his father was born. I remember things from when I was outside… though I was, as you say, a dumb brute. Then… ah, **_**then **_**I was a monster. I raged across the world, destroying everything I saw that displeased me. Nations fell before me. What more can you offer?"**

"Purpose," Naruto said. "I can give you direction. Focus. Without me, you'd just as soon be captured and used against your will. But with me, we can work together. Right now, I don't want your strength—I _need _it. If you don't get your chakra under control, I could die. I don't want to lose control right now. Too much is at stake. But I swear, I'll let you out soon enough."

The fox moved away from Naruto and paced in a tight circle, his multiple tails billowing out around him. **"I liked you better when you listened to me more," **it finally said. **"Go. When you return, the surge will have subsided, but there will be residual chakra. It won't go away until you burn it all off. It's much more easy for me to send chakra into you than take it back. You'd better put up one hell of a fight, kit—if you don't you could kill yourself regardless."**

Naruto nodded. "Thanks, Kyuubi. I am in your debt." Naruto turned to go, but the Kyuubi stopped him.

"**Don't think I missed the other presence inside of you, boy," **he growled at Naruto's back. **"We will discuss that later."**

Naruto gulped. That was something that he'd been afraid of. "Understood," he said. Before the fox could interrupt him further, he closed his eyes and released the meditative spell he'd put himself under.

He returned to his senses, fully aware of the outside world once again. It seemed, much as the time he spent with the fox when he fought Mizuki, only a second or two had passed in the time he'd been inside his head. The bestial drive that had plagued him for a few scant seconds was subdued; though it remained, his human reason was once again in command.

The demonic chakra no longer raged out of control. It surrounded his body like a living cloak, billowing as if it was solid fire. It encased his entire body, emanating from his tenketsu in waves and waves.

He felt the massive pile of chakra in his gut. _I need to work this off? _he thought with wonder. _This is more chakra than I usually have! How can I burn this all?_

He shook his head. _Worry about that later!_ he told himself._ Beat Haku now!_

Haku was still on the concrete ground, having been knocked aside by the shockwave of demonic chakra release by his needles. "What… what are you?" he asked in an awed voice.

Naruto took a slow step forward. The cement at his feet chipped and flaked with his movements. "I am… the last thing standing between you and the hopes and dreams of thousands of people," he said, a trace of the Kyuubi's guttural growl in his voice. "I am… the justice of a nation. But before all of that…" He smiled wickedly. "I am the host of the most powerful of the Bijuu… the Kitsune, the Kyuubi." He pointed a finger at the masked boy. "And you—you're out of luck." Naruto's body became a blur as he ran at Haku, fist cocked to deliver a devastating blow at him.

Haku leapt backwards, but Naruto was too fast for him. He punched Haku in the chest with a chakra-shrouded fist, catching him in mid-leap, sending him out and off the bridge, rocketing him toward the water in the distance. Naruto leapt off the bridge after him, his chakra forming a tail behind him that had some substance. It kept him flying in a straight trajectory, and with a half-second of experimentation, found that he could control it, ever so slightly, to change the angle of his flight.

Haku hit the water and skipped across it, forming great ripples in his wake in the ocean. Naruto hit the waves just after Haku touched down and ran after him, a large V rising up behind him from the force of his footsteps and the aura of chakra around him. He curved off, anticipating the place where he would land next, and dashed to it before Haku could touch down.

Haku was startled to see Naruto there before him. Recovering from the blow to his chest, he pulled two of the double-sided kunai from his pouch and wielded them with both hands. He slashed at Naruto's face, but was shocked when the chakra cut two inches off the tip—the area that his aura extended to from his body.

Naruto plunged his shoulder into Haku's gut and wrapped his arms around his torso, squeezing the boy mercilessly, and leapt into the air with all of his might. He put more power into the leap than he thought possible; higher and higher into the air they went, until Naruto realized that it wasn't just the force of the leap that was propelling them—the trail of chakra behind him was doing some work too.

_Interesting, _Naruto thought surprisingly calmly. _I could use this. _He threw Haku off of him, up higher than him, and delivered a set of punches to his gut, then his chest, then all over the place, tumbling him end over end above him, his back and sides getting the same punishment that his front was.

Naruto caught him by a foot. Pivoting in the air, taking advantage of his slightly larger mass and massively greater physical strength, he twisted and threw Haku straight down at the water below.

Haku flew head-first toward sea level from hundreds of feet in the air. He had the presence of mind to form hand seals, and an instant later, just a few feet below him, a mirrored wall of ice came into existence. He hit it—

_No, _Naruto realized as he began his fall. _He went through! _He adjusted the tail of chakra behind him to navigate to the mirror below. He didn't have enough thrust to truly fly—but more than enough to land where he wanted. He hit the mirror, but landed softly enough to not crack it. He looked down at it, to see what appeared to be a reflection showing in it… Haku's reflection.

"Hey, Haku! Is that you in there?" he asked the reflection.

Surprisingly, the figure responded. "No," came a voice, as clearly as if had been the real thing. "No, this isn't me that you see. My mirrors can teleport me to another mirror; as long as there are two existing, I can go anywhere… inside certain limits."

"Hmm… certain limits, huh?" He rubbed his chin. "I know that teleportation jutsu, especially space/time jutsu, are dependent on the chakra of the user." He snapped his fingers. "This is why Akamaru reacted the way he did. This is a Kekkei Genkai, isn't it?"

Haku slowly nodded beneath the glassy ice. "Yes. It is my inheritance from my mother… and the reason that she died."

Naruto looked down at the boy's reflection. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Why did she die?"

"For years… for years, those with the power of a Kekkei Genkai have been seen as heralds of war. In the Mist, we are considered tools of war. We have few rights… we are strictly and harshly monitored and judged.

"My mother… she escaped from her clan, fled to a life on anonymity. She married a farmer, and eventually, I was born. For five years, we were a happy family. Until, that is…" He stopped talking and sighed.

"Until?" Naruto prompted.

"Until… the day my Kekkai Genkai manifested. I was by a pond, when I discovered I had the ability to manipulate water. My mother beat me severely, and told me never to ever do it again. But it was too late—my father saw everything.

"He was a zealot in lines with the Mizukage. He gathered villagers from around the area… and they brutally murdered my mother. They were coming after me, too… but in my fear, I used my first jutsu, one that was apparently programmed into my blood. In an instant, my father and his mob were cut to ribbons by a mass of ice spires. I walked away from that house, covered in blood, cold, lonely, without anyone in the world.

"A month or so later—I didn't have the energy to count the days—Zabuza-sama found me. He knew me for what I was. He didn't care that I was a monster in the eyes of all of the others. He accepted me. That is why I fight for him. I love him. I'd do anything for him. That is why I am going to fight until I die for him."

Naruto felt the insane amounts of chakra begin to die down, but he still had about half of what he'd begun the fight with. "I understand," he said, closing his eyes. "I know what you went through. I've been called a monster more times than I can count. I've been insulted, threatened, badgered… I've been through it all. But you know what?" He slammed a fist against the ice, doing no damage at all. "I rose above it! I have people who depend on me now—people who trust me—and me them! I have a purpose besides blind obedience! I'll admit, at first, when I was assigned to the team I'm with now, I had a kind of hero worship to my Hokage, but I've learned some things since then. And you know what? Nobody is ever as perfect as you wish they were. _Nobody. _Zabuza? Guess what? Beyond all that ass-kissing you do, you fail to realize just how horrible he is! _He's damning a country! _ He could find work anywhere—he could even join another village, if he wanted to. But he isn't! He's working to destroy the dreams of hundreds of thousands of people, merely to advance his own! Think outside your mind for a second—is that really, _really _the kind of person who deserves your admiration… or your fealty?"

"I understand what you are saying," Haku said slowly. "I also know, from your standpoint, that you are correct. But that doesn't matter. What matters is that I do what I am ordered. And right now, my orders are to kill you." He held up a hand and flashed it through the half-hand signs he'd demonstrated before. "Goodbye, Naruto-kun."

Hundreds of the ice-made needles erupted from the mirror's surface. Naruto had to dodge to avoid them. It sent him off the edge of the mirror, into open air. _Damn it! _he cursed himself. _I have no idea where he is! _He pushed his chakra behind him and directed his tail to steer him to the bridge; he had just enough altitude and thrust to make it to the bridge's surface.

_Where is he? _Naruto thought. _Where did he go? _Naruto extended his senses to the maximum, but he couldn't find Haku's scent, or hear a thing. _He's gone… gone. But where to—_

Naruto heard a delayed thud in the distance, followed quickly by a sudden charge in the air. "Sasuke!" he said, surprised. "He's actually using the freaking Chidori!" Realization dawned on him. He knew where Haku was going. "_FUCK!" _he shouted as he ran down the bridge to where Zabuza and Sasuke had stayed. _If Sasuke's using that technique, then it means that Zabuza is stuck—that's the only way it'd work without the Sharingan… or _that _technique. If Haku sensed his master was in trouble, that's where he would go._

Naruto put on a burst of speed. Each step tore a gaping hole in the surface of the bridge, making chunks of gravel and clouds of dust billow into the air. But that didn't matter—the only thing that mattered was getting to Sasuke before Haku did. Sasuke had no idea what Haku could do—he wouldn't stand a chance in a two on one situation.

Up ahead, he saw Haku standing in the middle of the bridge, a mirror before him. Naruto knew what he was going to do a second before he made his move. He flashed some signs, and a shower of needles flew directly at his face.

"FUCK THAT!" Naruto shouted. He didn't know how he knew to do what he did, or whether it would work—but he inhaled, deeply and fully, and let his lungs out in a mighty roar fully fueled by the chakra in his aura.

The needles were shattered and scattered, so powerful was Naruto's bellow. Haku, over fifty meters away, had to brace himself to stop from being knocked asunder.

Naruto came to a dead stop less than ten feet from Haku. "You aren't getting in that mirror," Naruto said evenly. "I'm fast enough and strong enough to stop you. So, step away, slowly, and put your hands in the air. _Now._

Haku looked at him through the mask. "That is not going to happen, Naruto-kun," he said. "I've already given what assistance I can to my master. Besides teleportation, I can create an ice mirror anywhere in my range, at any time I want. I am so attuned to my master, I know where he is at all times. I blocked a fatal blow from your friend. He should be dead in seconds. There is nothing you can do." Haku pulled a handful of senbon from his pocket.

Naruto felt rage build up inside of him. "You don't know Sasuke like I do!" he shouted. "Whatever happens, he always has a way out! So bite me, shut up—and suck on this!" He reached into his bum pouch to pull out a handful of shuriken—but his palm closed in instead on the strange black kunai he'd grabbed shortly before. _What the hell, _he thought. _This is as good as anything else. _He pulled it out from his pouch and held it at the ready.

"Just what kind of kunai is that?" Haku asked, a faintest trace of sarcasm in his voice.

"This? This is the inheritance from my father—the Yondaime Hokage himself!" Naruto roared and charged the startled boy.

Haku was too stunned to react in time. This boy—the jinchūriki of the most vile of the great tailed beasts—was the son of one of the most revered shinobi in history!

It was then that he remembered something he had once heard about the man—his nickname, the Yellow Flash, and how he'd gotten it. "No!" he shouted as he dived backwards through the ice. He managed—just—to get through the mirror before Naruto's kunai struck him.

But something that neither of them expected happened just then: when the point of the kunai struck the mirror, the seal tag on the pronged kunai glowed a bright yellow. Without resistance, Naruto fell through the ice to tumble into the startled Haku at an extremely high velocity, knocking the both of them end over end—

Without realizing it, Naruto was tumbling over the ground, skipping from shoulder to feet and back again. With a glance he saw Sasuke out of the corner of his eye, slumped on the ground against the rail of the bridge, cradling his left shoulder with his blooded right hand. Naruto got another quick glance to where he was going to crash when he next landed, and saw with horror the shocked face of Momochi Zabuza two feet from his own face.

Naruto crashed into the nuke-nin, his gigantic sword raised in ready to split the defenseless Uchiha in half. His speed was much too great to allow something like the mass of Zabuza to stop him. After hearing a sickening crunch on impact, he deflected away from Zabuza's body and skidded along the concrete. His cloak of chakra prevented him from harm—it was more like an armor, in that case—but momentum was momentum, and in mid-air there was nothing he could do to stop his movement through the air.

Or was there? He reached out with his consciousness to his chakra—the demonic chakra. He flared it in bursts to stop him from flying away from the others, and inside of a few seconds, he was standing shakily a hundred yards from them.

"What the…" Naruto said softly. What just happened to him? He looked at the kunai in his hand. How he didn't lose it through the fall, he didn't know.

"IT'S ABOUT FUCKING TIME!" Sasuke roared in the distance as he struggled to stand up. "He was about to cut me in half!"

Naruto wiped a trail of blood from his lips. Apparently, the armor was thin enough there that he could get scraped, at least. "Sorry to keep you," Naruto said sarcastically. "I was kinda busy for a while. Haku was more trouble than I thought. But, hey… check this out." Naruto held up a hand. For the first time, Sasuke noticed the red chakra surrounding him.

"The Kyuubi—it's out?" Sasuke bellowed. "How the hell—"

"Later!" Naruto shouted as he rushed to his partner's side, taking care not to touch him. "Right now, we've got to take care of these two. How'd it go with Zabuza?"

Sasuke grunted as he righted himself. "What do you think?" Sasuke asked grumpily. "I tried everything I could—even the cigarette trick to screw with the water. I almost had him—he was strung with about five pounds of wire and sandwiched between two earth walls. I almost got him with the Chidori, but this mirror just appeared before I could get him. That took most of the strike out of the lightening… in the end, I didn't even touch him. He tore the wires apart, then…" He indicated his shoulder. "Tore me apart." This last he said with a grimace of pain. He jerked his head to the side. "He broke my sword with one swing. Against that monster blade, it didn't stand a chance. He was just about to get me before you showed up."

"You're welcome, by the way," Naruto said. "How are you holding up?"

Sasuke grunted. "It's just a flesh wound. I've had worse." Sasuke took his blood-covered hand from his wound. It was a two-inch gash, cleanly cut, and shallow. "It looks worse than it is," he said.

"Right. Can't let that stoic front of yours get broken. Can you fight?"

Sasuke lifted his wounded arm experimentally. With a cry, he clutched it once again. His face paled—paled more than usual, anyway—and he undeniably cringed in pain. "I'll take that as a no," Naruto said evenly. "Just stay there and don't die on me. I can't let my best friend go out like a punk."

Sasuke laughed through gritted teeth. "No way in hell I'll go before you," he hissed.

"That's the spirit," Naruto said. "Just keep the image of yourself dancing on my grave in your head and take care of yourself. I've still got enough juice to handle Haku—and maybe even Zabuza to boot."

"Then quit talking and do it!" barked Sasuke.

Naruto sighed as he gently lowered Sasuke to the ground and propped him against the rail. "Don't you ever shut up? I have a fuckin war to fight here."

He turned and left his friend, bloody, injured, helpless. But he knew that the Uchiha's pride wouldn't let him take any more assistance than he already had.

Naruto took stock of Zabuza and Haku. The boy was kneeling at the older man's side. "How ya doin over there?" Naruto called as he put a hand on his sword's hilt.

Haku turned his head swiftly at Naruto. "Stay away," he warned. "I will not hesitate to attack if you threaten Zabuza-sama."

"And we know how well that worked out the last time you tried it," Naruto said. "I've been trying not to kill you this whole time—we could have been over and done with a long time ago. But you don't deserve to die. And, honestly, after what you told me… I don't think he does either."

Zabuza's eyes widened in surprise at Naruto's words. "Who are you to be my judge and jury?" he asked.

Naruto sighed. "As I told your apprentice… your former colleague, Yamamoto, fought I and my team just over a week ago."

Zabuza narrowed his eyes. "So… it was you who killed him," he said.

Naruto shook his head. "I was there… but I didn't deliver the killing blow, not exactly. My friends, and comrades, Hyuuga Hinata and Uchiha Sasuke—the kid who'd been trading licks with you for the past ten minutes or so—we hit him with an almost unstoppable combination of long-range, widespread, high-powered jutsu. We wore him out, and he died while talking. His last words… Well, in so many words, he asked, if we ever got the chance, to take out the Mizukage. He didn't say why… I didn't know the whole story. But if I had the chance, knowing the laws he passed down—I don't know."

Haku pulled Zabuza upright. The man's shoulder looked crushed where Naruto had slammed into him. Even to his untrained eye, Naruto could tell that it was destroyed almost beyond repair. It would take some incredibly talented medic-nin to repair him to where he could even have basic mobility. "That man—ugh!" he said with a grunt. "That man is destroying a whole nation with his irrationality. Yamamoto was to lead our army against the current Mizukage. One of us was going to take the title—we didn't care who. Our goals were the same. With him dead… it will take a long time to find someone to replace him. His skills were invaluable."

Naruto sighed. "Just abandon this dream!" he shouted. "Can't you see that you're in no shape to fight? Even if you get patched up—you will still probably die going up against one of the jinchūriki! Why do this at all?"

Naruto stepped back as Zabuza rose to his feet. It wasn't until he was erect that the boy saw that the man's arm opposite his torn shoulder was broken just below the elbow. There was no way for him to hold his sword… no way to execute his jutsu. He was indeed a broken man.

But the fire remained in his eyes. "Because some dreams are worth killing for! Worth dying for! What would you know of sacrifice, brat? I gave my life multiple times for my village and earned it back through battle and bloodshed! To make my dream a reality, I will fight and die a thousand times over to take it just a single step closer to realization! To hell with you and your preaching, your nay saying. The only one who can make my dreams come true is _me! _If I have to fight to my last breath, then fight I will! If you stand between me and my dream… I'll fucking _bite you _to death if I have to!"

There was a single clap in the distance. "Bravo, bravo," an ugly voice said through the remaining mist on the bridge. "That was _such _an excellent performance," it continued as a figure emerged through the lone cloud of mist.

It was a short, ugly, rather pudgy man in a suit. He had a cast on one arm, and a simple wooden cane in another. "Gato," growled Zabuza as he turned his weary gaze upon the man. "What are you doing here?"

The man smiled at the shinobi. "After all this time," he said, "I got tired of waiting on you to deliver on your word. You promised me the head of the bridge builder, and thus the hopes of the country… but instead all I get is a wounded ninja who can't do anything without his punk bitch sidekick." Gato shifted his gaze slightly to Haku. "I haven't forgiven you for breaking my arm, boy," he said. "I promise you, you'll pay for that."

"What have you done, Gato?" Zabuza asked wearily.

Gato placed both hands on his cane. He looked rather smug. "I've sent over a hundred of my soldiers to the house that Tazuna and his family live in. Even with the extra shinobi there, there should be enough of them to make sure that nobody not on my payroll makes it out alive. Of course, if some of my men die…" He shrugged. "The bottom line is healthier for me. Less out of pocket."

He smiled. "They should all be dead by now," he continued. "Zabuza, our deal is off. You will not, I repeat, _not _be getting a single ryu out of me. You failed, utterly and completely, as an employee. I expected a demon. To me, all it looks like is a _baby _demon, if that."

"You bastard!" Naruto shouted. "You never intended to pay him in the first place, did you?"

Gato smirked. "Hiring shinobi from the major villages can be a bit of a hassle for people like me," he explained in a condescending tone. "When they realize what we do to get by…" he shrugged. "They seem to take offense. But nuke-nin like Zabuza and Haku here… they're a dime a dozen. They can't say no to a job, especially when they have these so-called 'dreams' to work for. You ninja just _love _to beat on each other; it's so much easier to hire thugs to take them out when they're all worn out than pay their excessive fees. My way makes so much more business sense."

He raised his good hand and snapped his fingers. From out of the mist came dozens of thugs, most of whom had swords, or spears, or clubs, with a few other weapons thrown into the mix. They looked ragged, hungry, and dirty—but strong and mean. In short, the perfect shock troops for a cheapskate like Gato. "These guys don't cost nearly as much as you shinobi do," Gato said, "even when you put them all together. I get the results I want, and pay less than I have to. Any way you look at it, I win."

Naruto shook his head. "Not a chance," he said. "How many of your goons did you say you sent to attack Tazuna?"

Gato frowned, the tips of his mustache pointing toward the ground. "Well over a hundred of my best, boy," he said. "Why? Are you worried about them?"

Naruto shook his head, a slight smile creeping onto his lips. "No… not at all." He turned to his partner. "What do you say, Sasuke? How many do you think Hinata killed before it was all over?"

Sasuke seemed to seriously consider the question. "I don't know… maybe about twenty? Maybe more? She isn't the kind to hog all of the fun… she'd spread them out to the rest."

"Yeah… that's about what I thought, too," Naruto said.

"Wait! Wait, what do you mean?" Gato asked, panic creeping into his reptilian voice.

"You little idiot," Naruto said. "Do you have any idea who came here with us? Who's standing in front of you? No, shut the _fuck _up. In order—you have Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, Haruno Sakura, Yuuhi Kurenai, and Izumi Honoka. These are some of the strongest clans represented in Konoha. And you sent… _thugs? _They're dead. The men behind you are dead. And guess what, you idiot? Now _you're _dead. Because right in front of you is a seriously pissed off Uchiha… and the jinchūriki of the Kyuubi. I can personally guarantee you that none of you will leave this bridge alive. Sorry guys… but your boss is a dick. He just got you killed."

Naruto made as if to jump at the cluster of men, but suddenly Zabuza stood in his way. "Hey!" Naruto shouted as he barely avoided colliding with the heavily-muscled shinobi. "Get the hell out of my way! You're in no position to fight!"

Zabuza slowly turned his head to look down at Naruto. Though he knew that Zabuza no longer posed a real threat to him the look in the man's eyes made his blood run cold. For the first time, he realized what kind of monster the man could be when he wanted to. "Step away, boy," he said evenly. "Our fight is over. We don't have any more reason to be killing each other. So do _not _make this personal. I have a score to settle with Gato. So stay away while I do this. You don't want any part of this fight."

"Are you really that stupid?" Naruto shouted. "Your arms are destroyed. You can't fight in this condition!"

Zabuza turned around. "Pull off my bandages," he said. "The ones over my mouth. Come on, I don't bite."

Naruto hesitated for a second, but finally did at the man asked. He gripped the linen bandages and pulled down, exposing two rows of gleaming-white pointed teeth. "Boy," he barked at Sasuke. "I apologize for your sword. But I was wondering if I could borrow it for a minute."

Sasuke looked down at the broken blade at his side. It had shattered halfway up the tip—it was no longer than a tanto now. "Are you kidding?" he said. "What are you going to do with no hands?"

Zabuza turned to him and grinned, somewhat maniacally. "My people have a saying… 'If you tear my arms off, I'll kick you to death. If you tear my legs off, I'll bite you to death.' Well, I'm skipping step two, and I don't think I can bite that many people. But who needs hands to hold a sword, when a mouth can do it just as well?"

Sasuke hesitated for a moment, then decided that he'd do the man who'd almost killed him one favor. He threw the blade at him, as straight as possible; with what looked like practiced ease, he caught it in his teeth. "Thanks," he said around the handle wrapping. "You won't want this when I'm done with it. Take mine if you want. I won't need it when I'm done."

"Zabuza-sama!" Haku shouted, finally breaking the silence he'd held. "Let me do this! I can kill them all more easily than you right now! You can still be saved!"

Zabuza turned to his apprentice. "No," he said softly. "No. I won't let you fight on my behalf anymore. You've failed me as a tool. If you couldn't beat the brat… I have no need for you anymore."

"Zabuza-sama—" Haku began to say, but he was interrupted by the man.

"Didn't you hear me?" Zabuza growled. "You aren't my apprentice anymore. Boy," he said at Naruto. "Make sure he doesn't follow me. If he does—I will turn around and come after _you _instead. Understood?"

Naruto gulped. The menacing aura he was giving off was almost palpable. "Yes… sir."

Zabuza smiled. "Good. Haku… Go somewhere. Live your life. Find something other than fighting. You were always a second-rate tool at best anyway." He turned toward the terrified Gato. "Your turn," he simply stated.

He rushed at the mob of men, cutting them down with the broken blade in his mouth, sometimes deflecting their weapons with it as he steadily made his way towards the trembling man standing behind all of his goons. "Kill him, you fools!" he shouted. "I'll double—no, triple the salary of any man who kills him!"

Zabuza was cutting a bloody swath through the mob and leaving a trail of destruction behind him. Through it all, knives, swords, and even a sickle had been thrust into him before he cut down the owners of the weapons. He had no way to remove them; he ignored the pain and pushed through with dogged resolution. "Money can't save you now!" Zabuza bellowed as man after man fell before, behind, and around him. Blood sprayed in great geysers into the air as he deftly worked the broken sword. "Nothing can save you! Who needs money? This is my payment to you, Gato—the payment of betraying a demon—the Demon of the Bloody Mist!"

Haku cried out in panic as Zabuza fell under the weight of dozens of goons before he could reach Gato. With a cry of triumph, the man pointed his cane at the massive dogpile of bodies. "I—he's not so tough!" he shouted. "Nothing more than a bab—"

His words were interrupted when the entire pile of bodies erupted, each thug flying away as if and explosion had thrust them through the air. Using nothing more than his leg and back strength, he'd sent almost two dozen men flying away. For a second, it seemed as if it was a whole dome of men over Zabuza… half a second later, Zabuza ran on to close the empty gap between him and Gato.

For just a second—maybe Naruto's eyes were playing tricks on him—but it seemed as if Zabuza had a shroud of chakra around him, something like what he'd had before, in the shape of a demon. The next instant, it was gone, but Naruto was pretty sure he saw what he saw. Somewhere in his bloodline… he just might have had a demonic ancestor. He was sure Zabuza had done his ancestor proud.

Gato scrambled to get away from Zabuza, but there was nothing to be done. Before he could even scream in terror, Zabuza swiped his head from his shoulders, sending it flying into the air, over the edge of the bridge he'd struggled to destroy, and into the sea below.

The body stood for a moment… then, with a spray of blood, it fell forwards in front of Zabuza.

Zabuza was hunched over in pain and exhaustion. His lungs rose and fell as he labored to breathe. Something had been damaged inside of him—and it was obvious that he didn't have long to live, not in his state.

He fell to his knees, but before he hit the ground, Haku was there to support him. "Zabuza-sama!" Haku cried as he caught the man by his broad, toned shoulders.

Zabuza grunted. The light was going out of his eyes. "Ha…Haku…" he said through labored breaths. Blood was trickling from his lips. "My most faithful tool. Tha…thank you for being by my side." In his final moments, he seemed at peace, and didn't look like such a bad guy. He had a pleasant face, with a narrow chin and a medium-sized nose.

"How could I b-be anywhere else?" Haku said, a crack in his voice. "You were the only one who cared for me… who accepted me, ever… ever looked at me as anything but-but trash."

Zabuza looked at his apprentice with a small smile. "You were never trash," he said softly. "You always… always were a good boy. Too kind… too gentle… This was not the life that was meant for you."

Haku cradled the big man's shoulders in his lap. "Don't say that…" he whispered. "All I ever wanted was to be by your side. You gave me a purpose. Nothing can replace that."

Zabuza coughed, a wad of blood flying from his mouth. "Don't talk like that," he said with a rasp. "You never needed me. I… needed you." He smiled weakly at the boy. "Thank you… you helped me… day by day… find my soul. Haku… let me see your face… one more time."

Haku slowly removed his mask with a hand stained by Zabuza's blood. It smeared slightly as it came away from his face. Tears flowed freely from his eyes, without shame, without disgrace. They were tears of love for the man. "You're… crying. Stop it."

Haku closed his eyes, but the tears came still. "I c-can't stop, Zabuza-sama," he sobbed.

"Useless…" Zabuza said with a stunted laugh. "Stop calling… yourself… a tool."

"Yes, Zabuza-sama," Haku said through his tears.

"Be a good… boy…" Zabuza rasped. He fell silent, then limp in Haku's arms. Momochi Zabuza, the Demon of the Bloody Mist… was dead.

"_No!_" Haku shouted as he clutched his master's body close to him, not caring if he got blood over him. In his arms was the only person in the world who cared for him… gave him a purpose… gave him a _life. _And now he was gone, never to return

Naruto and Sasuke respectfully kept their silence, a silence that was broken by a rude interruption. "This is heartbreaking," a voice called out from behind Naruto. He turned to see the remaining thugs, some thirty or so, standing together brandishing weapons. "Gato was our meal ticket. You killed him, so the cheap bastard can't pay us what's due! We'll have to kill you lot and raid the village to make this all worth the effort!"

Naruto drew his sword. "I don't think so!" he shouted as he pointed its tip at the speaker, a shorter man with a spear. "Sasuke, stay back. You're in no shape to handle this. Haku… I know that you're going through a lot right now, but I might need you to help me with this. I used almost all of my chakra fighting you, and I'm nearly burnt out."

Haku didn't respond; he merely held onto Zabuza's body, tears still flowing down his cheeks. _Shit. He's in shock. Why does that always happen? _He shook his head. If he stuck to his sword and used his remaining chakra to increase his speed, he had a chance to kill or injure most of them… but he couldn't do that and protect Sasuke and Haku. _I'm fucked, _he thought to himself. _What can I do?_

A whizzing sound, followed by a cry of pain, broke the tension. A man at the back of the pack fell to his knees, an arrow embedded in his calf. The mob turned as one to get the shock of their life: almost all of the men of the village were assembled, each armed with a crossbow and a full quiver of arrows apiece.

At the front of them all stood Tazuna and Inari. The boy, it seemed, had been the one who'd sent the bolt, as he stood with an empty weapon when all of the rest of the group remained fully armed. "Hey, dummies!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. "We're not gonna be pushed around anymore! If you don't get out of here right now you're all gonna look like a pincushion!"

A smile sprang to Naruto's face. "Inari! What the hell are you doing here, kid?"

Inari grinned. "Well, I couldn't let you be the only hero around here! After the goons showed up at my house, all of your friends beat them around pretty easily. Most of em are dead, but a few managed to escape. One we caught alive said that the rest of them were with Gato on the bridge. After hearing that, me and Grandpa rounded up all of these guys and decided to come on down here to give you a hand."

"Inari's right," said Tazuna. "It's about time for us to stand up for ourselves. As a nation, it's our responsibility."

Naruto laughed. "Good going, little brother!" he said. "You guys take that half, and leave the rest of them to me!"

The mob of hirelings began to look nervous. "We didn't sign up for this!" one of them shouted. "I'm out of here!" He tried to run around Naruto, but in a flash, Naruto was right in front of him, his sword tip half an inch from his throat.

"Try again, bub," he said, "and you'll see what color you are on the inside."

The man dropped his weapon from trembling hands. "P-please, don't kill me," he rasped, afraid to move.

Naruto smirked. "Hey, Inari! How far are we from shore from here?"

The boy caught onto what Naruto was thinking. "About two miles," he called back.

Naruto nodded. "Okay. Everyone who wants to survive tonight… I hope you can swim." In a blur of motion, he spun around, caught the man by his collar, and tossed him into the ocean. He screamed as he plunged down and hit the water with a resounding crash. "You can jump, get tossed, or die!" Naruto shouted. "The choice is yours!"

Without another word from him, the thugs dropped their weapons and dived over the rail and into the water below. Naruto couldn't help but smile; some of them wouldn't make the swim to the shore, he knew. They would drown, or get eaten by sharks, perhaps. They deserved no less.

Inari's group came to meet Naruto in the now-vacant space. "Thanks for coming," Naruto said. "But where are my friends?"

Tazuna answered. "I told them to stay there," he said. "This had to be something that we dealt with on our own."

Naruto nodded, knowing what the man meant.

"Is that… him?" Inari asked, pointing to Zabuza's body cradled in Haku's arms.

"Yes," Naruto said grimly. "That's Momochi Zabuza. He died from injuries, but I didn't kill him. Gato betrayed him. He fought off and killed a lot of his thugs to get to Gato." Naruto pointed to his right. "There he is."

The entire assemble looked towards where Naruto pointed. "_That's _Gato?" Tazuna asked over the murmurings of his men. "Where's his head?"

Naruto smiled slightly. "Somewhere below your feet," he said, "or somewhere else. Who knows? The waters here are precarious. It could be anywhere by now."

Tazuna nodded in understanding. "I see." He looked at some of the men beside him. "You two—please dump him over the edge. The rest of them, too," he said, indicating the bodies of the dead goons. "But not Zabuza. We will treat him with the respect he is due. He will get a proper burial. We will _not _take our ire out on his body—do I make myself clear?"

The men nodded. Zabuza was fairly new—but they'd hated Gato for years.

Naruto went to Haku's side while the men tossed bodies into the waters. "Haku? Haku, listen to me. Zabuza's dead. You have to live on, for him. It's what he wanted. So don't go and do something stupid, ok?"

Haku slowly looked up. He'd stopped crying, but the tears had dried and stained his cheeks. "I… I know, Naruto-san," he whispered. "I won't kill myself, I promise."

"Good," Naruto said. "I wouldn't let you." He gently pried Haku's arms from around Zabuza's corpse. "Come on. I'm taking you back to Tazuna's for a while, at least until you get yourself cleaned up. I don't want you out of my sight for now."

Six of the village men approached the boys. With a nod of respect, they slowly lifted Zabuza onto their shoulders in a pallbearer carry and began the slow trek down the bridge. Naruto had to physically restrain Haku from reaching out to his fallen master. "There's nothing you can do," Naruto said, pinning the other boy's arms to his side. "He will be given a funeral, will full respects. Don't make this harder than it has to be."

Haku began crying again through bloodshot eyes, but his tears were softer and slow this time. "Ok," he whispered. "Ok."

Naruto stood up and gently pulled Haku to his side. "Let's go," he said, leading the boy behind him. "Sasuke, can you walk?"

The Uchiha grunted his affirmation. "My shoulder is hurt, not my legs," he said. "Honoka should be able to heal that in no time."

"Good. Let's get out of here," Naruto said. "I think I'm about to throw up."

* * *

_**Two days later

* * *

**_

Naruto knew that he'd find Haku at the grave of his fallen master. Sasuke had refused to take the massive cleaver that was called a sword as his own. He had said that it just wasn't his style, but Naruto knew that it was his way of showing respect toward the man. Instead, they'd planted it at the head of the nuke-nin's grave in place of a headstone; a fitting tribute to a true warrior.

"Are you ok?" Naruto asked the boy.

Haku looked over at him. "I don't know," Haku answered. "After all this time, I always thought that I knew what life was about. But without Zabuza-sama… I just don't know what I'm going to do."

"Come with us," Naruto said, for the umpteenth time. He'd been pressing Haku to return to Konoha with him, at least temporarily, until he found something worth living for. He knew the depression Haku was going through—he'd experienced it before, himself. "We'll take care of you. Hell, you can live in my house if you want. I have room to spare."

Haku merely turned back to stare hauntingly at the grave. "I—I don't know," he said.

"Do it," Hinata said from behind Naruto. She'd come to know and like the boy in the two short days since they'd formally met. "I'm not going to take no for an answer."

Haku looked at her. "You won't?" he asked with a small smile. "What makes you think you can make me?"

Hinata grinned. "Naruto kicked your ass—I can kick _his. _Do the math."

Haku laughed a genuine laugh. "If you put it that way… perhaps. But… I don't want to fight. Not right now, anyway. I need time to mourn."

Naruto nodded. "I know," he said softly. "Take all the time you need. We'll be there for you. There is one condition to living with me, though, and it's unbreakable."

"What is it?"

Naruto stared hard at Haku. "If you ever, _ever _call yourself a tool again, I'll punch you as hard as I can. Understand?"

Haku paused… then nodded. "Understood," he said softly.

Naruto beamed. "Good," he said. "Now, let's get out of here. The others are waiting. Next stop—Konoha."

* * *

A/N: So… that's it. It's all over. Zabuza's gone, Gato's gone, the fox is unleashed, and all hell is about to break loose at the village. Konoha is in for some wild times coming up.

As I said in the last chapter, I'm beginning a new story. Keep on the lookout for it—it'll hit the net inside of a week. I'm gonna work solely on this project until then. I hope all of you check it out.

The contest for the new characters set to appear during the Chuunin exams is still open, and will be for a while to come. Any ideas are welcome. Hit me with what you got.

I'm so burnt out right now, I can hardly keep my eyes open. This is all I've got.

Take care, people. Help a little old lady cross a street or something. Do something good with your lives.

All my best.

dead witch


	22. Homecoming

Yep, chapter 22. Sounds good, doesn't it? 22… two twos. Only forty-seven more to go before I hit the magical 69. You can bet your ass it'll be a lemon.

Well, today, the group returns home. Not too much to say right now besides that. I'm buzzing on some good tea right now, and I can't sit still. Anyway…

As I've said, I have a new story out right now, called Second Chances. I've gotten a lot of good feedback from it, so I'll continue working on that project. Expect the next chapter inside of a week, along with chapter 23.

The contest is still going on for characters that will appear in the Chuunin arc. All entries are seriously considered.

That's about it… Read on and enjoy.

* * *

It took almost a week for the group made of Team 7 and Team 10, AKA Teams Kakashi and Kurenai, to return to Konoha. Realistically, they could have made the travel inside of a single day, but Kurenai's condition was still bothersome enough that she couldn't keep up in a prolonged run for much more than an hour or so each day. Even at that, they could only manage to travel at a little over half their possible cruising speed. She was prone to bouts of weakness occasionally, though Honoka promised that it would improve over time. How much time, she didn't say. It was quite probable that Kurenai would have to put her shinobi career on hold for a while.

When they weren't running or tree-hopping, they were walking down public roads at day and staying at inns, both with hot springs and without, at night. When possible, they got separate rooms—except for Hinata and Naruto, of course. It was no great secret now that they were nearly inseparable during conscious hours. What they did at night… no questions were asked.

On the sixth day of their travel back to the village, Kurenai sent a messenger bird she summoned from a scroll to Konoha, indicating that they were nearly back and to have an escort prepared at the outer gate. She was beginning to once again feel fatigued, and almost desperately needed to get some real bed rest. Honoka could heal injuries of the flesh and pull poisons from blood with ease, but had no great knowledge of medical herbs or medicine at all. Haku was a skilled first-aid technician, and could bandage battlefield injuries with the best of them, but he wasn't qualified to make decisions concerning pharmaceuticals.

Kurenai deigned to go into any of the clinics they occasionally saw in the odd town the group passed through. Despite her pupils' urgings, she pressed on resolutely by them. She said that the more they stalled, the longer it would take to get to the village, but Naruto knew that it was probably something else entirely. Many ninja had taken herbal supplements of secret—and often, quite illegal—compounds to enhance their abilities and performance in the field. Naruto knew that Kurenai's specialty was genjutsu… it was entirely possible that she was "juicing" herself, as was the common phrase.

It didn't matter. That was her business. She was an adult, and a member of Konoha to boot. Even though it sounded elitist in his head, Naruto knew that they, as a class, were above almost every law written in the land. They were regularly called upon to steal, to sabotage—hell, his first mission had been about murder. What's a little substance abuse?

It was a pleasant day to take a walk. By noon, the temperature was at a comfortable level, mid to high 70's, warm enough to relax them, but not hot enough to tire them out. They were fortunate to be in the shade of some of the smaller trees along the road, for they kept direct sun exposure down, preventing them from sweating excessively.

Naruto could feel that they were getting close to the village. That little tickle in the back of his mind that was his awareness of his property was coming back, slowly but surely. Yes, he was happy to be back… but he knew that he had a rough day ahead of him yet.

In their first message back to the village, they'd written in broad strokes the details of their stay—their arrival, he healing and recuperation of Kurenai and Kiba, the encounter with Zabuza's minion—Haku, though he wasn't named—the encounter on the bridge, and the death of Gato and a good number of the thugs who worked for him.

But at Naruto's request, they didn't include his release of the Kyuubi, or his involvement in the fight. Details like that, no matter how critical, couldn't be trusted to any missive that had even the slightest possibility of being intercepted. Things like that could wait for the more detailed face-to-face meeting with Sarutobi when the time came.

They added that they would be bringing an extra body with them, but didn't mention who, or even why. This, too, was considered sensitive information. Surely, somewhere in the file that was somewhere in the active nuke-nin archives, was Haku's name. To announce that they were bringing a former enemy back with them, under Naruto's protection, no less, would be nothing less than foolish.

Honoka and Kurenai had agreed with him on both counts. They realized that some secrets had to be kept until the time was right to let them out of the box.

Soon, the busy sounds of everyday life from the village became audible to the platoon. They rounded one last bend in the road, and there, only a mile or so away, they saw the great walls that surrounded the village. Their spirits rose—besides being the military power for the entire country, it was _home. _Team 10 had been absent for almost two months. Even Shino seemed happy to finally be returning to his family; though his stoic expression never changed, his footsteps seemed ever-so-slightly livelier.

Within ten minutes, at an easy walking pace, they reached the main east doors. The Chuunin manning the guard station called down to the party. "Who goes there?"

Honoka answered. "Team 7, returning from escorting Team 10 from Wave country," she called up. "We sent a message earlier stating that we'd be here around this time."

The guard nodded. "I was told, yeah," he shouted down. "You're to report directly to the Hokage, if possible." He turned to the door operators and gestured. A few seconds later, the massive barriers creaked open enough to admit them, then closed as soon as they were through.

Naruto wondered if the guard had missed Haku somehow—but then realized that he'd probably already been told that there'd be an extra person with them. That would make sense; the guards had a huge responsibility in their posts. Maintaining that position with a clean record was necessary, in most cases, to be allowed to take the Jounin tests.

"Thanks!" Naruto shouted up toward the guard.

"No problem!" he shouted back with a smile. Naruto didn't know who he was, but he made a point to remember his face. There was nothing in his expression to imply any distaste for him—something that was still somewhat hard for him to find.

As the group made its way through the main street in a beeline toward the Hokage monument, Naruto realized that it was a market day. With all that time spent away, he'd forgotten exactly what day it was.

Hundreds, possibly thousands of people pressed in from all around, going about their business. Every now and then someone would notice the group as they passed through, passing stalls and shops for the sake of their destination. Eventually, people began pointing, whispering, what, Naruto couldn't hear over the hustle and bustle of the village.

But this was the strangest thing: nobody looked angry at the boy. Before, when he'd still been an academy student, some of these same people taunted him and made life difficult. But now…

Naruto saw—admiration? Respect?

Save for those closest to him, these concepts were alien to him, coming from these people. Just what had happened in the two weeks that his team had been away?

"Honoka-chan?" Naruto said, turning to his squad leader. "What's going on?"

Honoka shrugged. "I have no clue," she confessed. "I'm as confused as you are."

Hinata grabbed Naruto by his shoulder. "Naruto… you don't think—what you said to my father has spread?"

"Which part?" he answered with a grin. "Telling him off, or threatening to punch him."

Hinata shook her head. "Not that part," she said. "The other one. About your _inheritance_."

Naruto sucked in a lung full of air. He'd forgotten that slip of the tongue. "I don't know," he said, wincing at the possibilities. "Maybe?"

Shino held up a hand. A beetle slightly larger than the others he usually used sat upon it. He had conferred with it briefly after sending it to fly around. "Naruto," he said calmly. "Is what they're saying true?"

"Is what true?" Sakura asked.

Kiba laughed. His ears were keener than anyone else's. "I don't believe it!" he shouted. "Are they for real?"

"What's going on?" Sakura asked almost desperately. "Seriously, guys, it's not funny! Tell me!"

Shino frowned. "Several things are being said," he began. "Some are referencing Naruto as 'Kushina's kid', while others are calling him 'Minato's heir'." He turned to the boy in question. "Mind telling us exactly what's going on?"

Naruto sighed. The proverbial cat was out of the bag now. And nothing he could do would put it back in. "I guess… I might as well say it out loud. My father… was Namikaze Minato… The Yondaime Hokage."

The entire party stopped in their tracks. Of course, his own teammates and leader knew this already. Even Kurenai knew this detail. But for Kiba, Shino, and Sakura—to hear these words casually said from his mouth was the biggest shock they were likely to receive for years to come.

The boy they'd grown up with. Trained with. Occasionally taunted, but more often than not in the past year or so spoken cordially to. He was the son of the most legendary shinobi of the modern age.

And they had never had a clue.

"Guys?" Naruto said after a moment. "Guys, you're making a scene here. That, and you're blocking traffic."

It was true. Large as the main broadway was, nine people smack dab in the middle of it would cause a blockage any day of the week—but on market day, dozens of people were held up as they avoided colliding into them.

The slack-jawed Genin didn't appear to resister Naruto's statement. Were the situation not so ridiculous, Naruto would have laughed at Shino's gaping mouth.

"Move it!" Honoka shouted, rousing them back to their senses. They continued walking, but kept looking over their shoulders at the blond boy.

Eventually, they arrived at the office complex that maintained Konoha's day-to-day activities. A Chuunin greeted them at the door. "The Hokage and the Council are waiting for you," she said, "in the conference room."

Naruto traded glances with his partners. This was not what they'd expected. They had been under the impression that they would have a private audience with Sarutobi… instead, they were to make their report in front of the entire ruling body of the village.

He had no idea offhand why this was so. But most likely, it had something to do with the rumors that were apparently floating around the village about him…

He shook his head. It would do no good to worry. Whatever it was, he could handle it. With Hinata and Sasuke by his side, he could handle anything.

The female Chuunin lead them upstairs to the third floor. Two Jounin stood guard at either side of twin doors with the Konoha symbol for fire painted upon it. They stepped aside at their advance, and the woman opened the doors without a word. She ushered them inside, then closed it behind them with an ominous _thud._

Sitting at the long and wide table was what appeared to be most of the Council of Konoha. Some dozen or so seats were filled, with two empty. Exactly nine seats were open that were not in the midst of the council. Not for a second did anyone new to the room think that it was a coincidence.

The Hokage himself sat at the head of the table in full Hokage garb—white robe with red trim, and the official wide-brimmed hat that all Kage wore. On either side were his personal council and former members of his team, way back when he was still an active shinobi, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane. Also present were Yamanaka Inoichi, Nara Shikaku, Danzo, and to Naruto's chagrin, Hyuuga Hiashi. There were several others there that Naruto didn't know, which was not surprising. He wasn't the type to rub shoulders with influential people, and didn't really pay attention that much with the official side of governing the village.

"Welcome back," Sarutobi said as they entered further into the room. "Please, take a seat. We have much to discuss, and unfortunately, not much time. I expect that you're wondering what this could all be about."

Naruto nodded. "The thought did cross my mind," he said, speaking for all of his party. He sat opposite the Hokage, and he did it for a reason: if this really was going to be about him, he wanted to be in a position of influence. For some reason, there was nothing like sitting in a pole position where you could see everyone, and everyone could see you. Seats of power could carry a lot of psychological weight.

Hinata sat to his left, and beyond that, in order, were Sasuke, Haku, and Honoka. To his right were Kurenai, Sakura, Shino, and Kiba. Akamaru sat on his partner's lap, though he wasn't large enough yet to see over the tabletop.

"If you would, please," Sarutobi said evenly and carefully, "Honoka, give us a full review of your mission."

Honoka nodded and stood up to address the council. Never before had she had to address the full party before—she was, after all, ANBU, answerable only to the Hokage himself, but she performed without hesitation. As swiftly but concisely as she could, she detailed the events leading up to and following the time she gathered the three Sanseirei—though, of course, she didn't call them that aloud—and their departure from the village. For the next ten minutes, she told everything that she could remember of the mission.

When she got to the point where Naruto convened the meeting in Tazuna's house and told of his meeting with Haku, the members of the Council began to murmur. Sarutobi held up a withered hand, however, and the muted conversation stopped.

Nobody crossed Sarutobi.

He indicated for Honoka to continue, and she did. She told of Naruto's plan, and how he pulled it off with the passive assistance of Hinata, Sasuke, Kiba, Shino. She detailed the negotiation he'd held with Haku, including the part where he shifted all negotiating power to himself with the reveal that he'd had four of his comrades, three of whom were skilled trackers in their own ways, waiting on his signal.

"And then what happened?" one of the unnamed council members, an older woman, asked.

"They came back to the house and informed us what went down. It had gone exactly to Naruto's plan. So, for the next three days, they rested and kept up their training, all of them. I supervised some of it. All of them are in good shape. For being this fresh from the Academy, they're remarkably skilled in their areas."

"Now, what about the conflict on the bridge?" Shikaku asked.

Honoka turned to Sasuke and Naruto. "This is their part of the story. They were the ones present; I'll turn over to them for now. Sasuke?"

The Uchiha nodded. He quickly explained his fight with Zabuza, including the part where he turned the surrounding waters toxic and how he'd accomplished it. While he described the fight with Zabuza, not a word was spoken but for the ones from his lips. Frankly, all of the adults present were amazed that he could go head-to-head with a somewhat legendary warrior of Zabuza's caliber and not die in the beginning.

"…And that's when I used the Chidori. I'd intended to plunge through the rock and into his heart, but before I could, a mirror made of ice blocked it and took most of the juice out of the attack. I crumbled the wall, but didn't so much as scratch the man. He pulled his sword and swung down at me. I barely survived—I blocked with mine, but he broke through it and gashed my shoulder. He was about to finish me off… but that's when things got a little crazy."

"Crazy?" Inoichi asked. "What do you mean?"

Sasuke turned to Naruto. "You want to take it from here?"

Naruto nodded. This was going to be the hard part. He began from where Sasuke did, when they parted ways to fight separately. As far as he could remember, he gave the blow-by-blow, until… "And that's when he created needles made of ice. These needles were much swifter than the ones he'd only thrown, and I didn't have a chance to dodge. My entire front looked like a pincushion for a while.

"Unfortunately… the needles that hit my gut did something totally unexpected. As you all know, the Kyuubi is sealed inside of me. More specifically, in my stomach. The seal on my front contains him and prevents him from escaping, yet allows me to draw chakra from him in smallish amounts. But some time ago, Sarutobi-sama placed a seal over _that _one to prevent me from using _any _of that chakra. He said that he wanted me to train and build up my strength with my own hard work. Honestly, that was a good idea; I'm a lot stronger now than I would have been had I relied all the time on the fox. But somehow—I'm still not quite sure how, though it may have something to do with the needles being constructs of a jutsu from a Kekkei Genkai—the seal was broken when my gut was riddled. My chakra was replaced, briefly, with the demonic chakra, and I began to go wild.

"I quickly meditated and entered the space in the seal and had a little talk with the Kyuubi. After a while—relatively, seeing as time flows differently in there—we negotiated a treaty between us, and he stemmed the flow of his power into me. Unfortunately, he couldn't draw his chakra from me. I had no choice but to use it all in battle." He continued on with some of the discoveries he'd made about the enhanced speed and power the demon's chakra had given him, and how he could glide short distances now using his chakra tail as a rudder.

"So, the demon is free, is it?" the one called Danzo asked.

Naruto shook his head. "No, not free," he said. "Not any more than it was before the Hokage placed the suppression seal on me. I've been in contact with it since I was young… five years old, to be exact. And no, before you even say anything, he has never been released from my control in all that time. The seal on my belly is too strong for him. I once had no choice but to draw on his power to survive, and it's true that he took over for a few minutes, but that nearly killed me, and I am not eager to repeat the experience."

Naruto continued to narrate the fight. When he got to the part where he'd charged at Haku's mirror and stabbed at it with the odd kunai he'd found in his house, several of the council began to mumble amongst themselves again. This time, however, the Hokage didn't halt them. A pensive expression crossed his face. "Naruto," he said after the conversation had subsided. "Do you still have this kunai?"

Naruto nodded. He stood up and reached into his bum pouch and pulled it out. "May I see it?" Sarutobi asked. Naruto considered throwing it at the old man, but decided against it. Though he knew that his skills were still sharp, it would be disrespectful in the extreme to act upon such an impulse. Instead, he walked around the right side of the table, passing Kurenai and her team, and handed the kunai, handle first, to Sarutobi.

The man examined it for a moment. Finally, he said, "Naruto… do you have any idea what this is?"

Naruto shook his head. "Not really," he said. "I found it in a drawer in my house soon before we left for the wave, and I pretty much decided to take it on impulse."

"Your house," one of the councilwomen that Naruto didn't recognize spoke out. "You are, of course, referring to the home formerly owned by the Yondaime Hokage."

Naruto nodded slowly. "Yes," he said.

"And how did you come to live there?" she asked.

The boy sighed. "As I'm sure you might have heard by now," he said, casting a swift glance to Hiashi, "I inherited it, by right. Namikaze Minata… he was my father."

A pin dropped on the floor could have echoed in the silent room. "Is that a fact?" the woman said softly. "That would make you… Uzumaki Kushina's son as well?"

Naruto nodded. "Of course," he said.

"I see… From one Uzumaki to another… how interesting." The woman gazed at the boy intensely, but not with any kind of malice. She seemed to regard Naruto as some kind of interesting puzzle to figure out, one which she'd just found a few new pieces to.

"Actually," one of the other councilwomen said, "he would be the _fourth _in his line to host the Kyuubi." She glanced at the Hokage. "Isn't that right, Sarutobi?"

Well, now. Naruto hadn't known _that._ This was getting quite interesting.

The Hokage nodded. "That is true," he said softly. "Very true." He volunteered no more information—but Naruto promised himself that he would press for it the next chance he got. "Please, though… finish your debrief."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Naruto said. "As I said, the kunai reacted somehow when it hit the ice mirror. I don't know how, I don't know why, but I guess the tag on it let me pass through. It shouldn't have—Haku was as surprised as I was. I was so surprised, in fact, that I lost control when I hit him and careened off. It just so happened that I flew into Zabuza as full speed as he was about to kill Sasuke. The blow, I believe, destroyed his shoulder beyond repair, and in the process broke his other arm as he absorbed the impact when he hit the ground. The cloak of chakra I still had protected me from all harm, save for a bloody lip."

Sarutobi nodded. "I expect that you're wondering why that happened," he said.

"Yes, sir. It's been bugging for a while."

The Hokage let the kunai dangle from a finger. "Do you know what they used to call your father? The nickname on the battlefield, I mean?"

"The Yellow Flash?"

Sarutobi grunted. "Exactly. So named for the speed at which he flew through the battlefield. He could slay dozens of foes with ease, in less than a second. This skill was assisted by kunai such as these. Do you see this?" he asked, indicating the seal tag wrapped around the handle. "This is a seal that acts something like a summoning contract. It can instantaneously teleport the user to the position by his or her will alone. He would throw, or have his subordinates throw, several dozen of these into a battlefield, then teleport between each one. In the instant that he used this jutsu, he became nothing more than a blur—a yellow flash.

"This is one of the highest caliber of space/time jutsu. With it, he could teleport anywhere—without limit. He could be here, in Konoha, one moment, then somewhere in Suna the next. Every tag he ever made was directly linked to his consciousness…which meant that anywhere there was one, he could be.

"It's possible… possible that the mechanisms that are inside of that tag reacted with the space/time properties of the mirrors that Haku used and let you pass through. That, or it let you instantly teleport yourself, without aid of the mirrors, right behind him. Either way, I believe that it is the confirmation, should anyone question your heritage or your inheritance, of your legitimacy. There has never been a single person in the village, save for your father, who could ever activate the seal." He considered the boy for a moment, then handed the kunai back to him. "But I digress. Please finish your report."

"Yes, sir," Naruto said. "After I teleported right behind Haku, that's when things, as Sasuke said, got a little crazy." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Gato, the man who'd hired Zabuza and Haku, showed up just as we were about to get into it again. He said that, now that Zabuza was crippled and couldn't defend himself, he was releasing him from his employ—without pay—and would have his thugs take care of him and Haku. Now, at this point, I believe that Zabuza could have been finished off, but Haku could have taken a lot of them out before he escaped.

"I, on the other hand, still had plenty of the fox's chakra to burn off, and if I so chose, I could have killed them all inside of a minute. Before I could, however, Zabuza got in my way. He released Haku from his services… then took a broken sword in his mouth and injured or killed almost two dozen fresh men before decapitating Gato with it."

This gave the council pause. Sasuke had fought Zabuza nearly to a standstill, despite being extremely outclassed… and the man, crippled and broken, was still able to fight of that caliber? Sasuke was lucky to be _alive._

"After that," Naruto said after a moment, "we drove off the remaining goons with the help of many of the men from the village who'd just arrived. They came just in time, for they were going to ransack the village if I wasn't able to stop them. To escape, they had no choice but to jump over the side of the bridge." He smirked. "I don't know about the Fire shore… but a good few bodies were washed up on the banks of the Wave in the next couple days."

"Is that a fact?" the councilwoman who'd questioned him about his mother said dryly. "I'm not surprised. In any case, what happened from there?"

"For the next two days, we rested and gave Kurenai-san time to rest and recuperate. After that, we left Wave country and began our trek home. It took almost a week, because Kurenai-san still wasn't fully recovered, but we decided that it would be best to begin our travel as soon as possible. And… here we are."

The room was still for a moment. "Thank you," Sarutobi said, breaking the silence. "But there is something you forgot to mention. What happened to Haku, and just who is this that you brought here with you?"

Naruto clenched his jaw. This part, he knew, would be _tricky. _"Due to a series of circumstances," he said slowly, "I brought him with us. Ladies and gentlemen of the Council… let me introduce you formally to Haku."

Outraged gasps rang from many mouths. "Are you serious?" the second councilwoman shouted. "You'd bring an enemy into Konoha? Have you taken leave of your senses, you fool?"

"I am sure he has a good reason for his actions," Sarutobi interjected.

"But Hokage-sama!"

"Let the boy speak," Danzo said, almost in a mumble. "This should be interesting."

Danzo, Naruto knew, was one of the village elders, and held considerable power in the village. His words carried weight.

"I have my reasons," Naruto said. "It was my choice to ask him to come—he turned down my invitation, in fact, until very shortly before we set on our way back home. Since the Mizukage began his practice of tightly controlling those clans in Water country with Kekkei Genkai, many individuals have gone into hiding. Skipping a story that isn't mine to tell, Haku's mother was one of those. She passed her blood to him; but while he was a child, Zabuza recruited him and trained him. Shortly after that, I believe, Zabuza defected—rather violently—from his village after a failed coup. You all know about that.

"Haku had been used by Zabuza since as a tool of war, that much is true. He is extremely skilled—if it hadn't been for the Kyuubi, and the seal on my belly breaking, I don't think that I would have been able to beat him outright. He's _that _strong. Stronger than most of the Chuunin we have, and possibly a good few of our Jounin.

"But after Zabuza died, he was useless. He'd gone into emotional shock. If I hadn't dragged him off of the bridge, he might have stayed there. You see, he'd been brainwashed since joining Zabuza into thinking that he was nothing but a tool, an extension of Zabuza's will. In essence, Zabuza enforced what we call Rule 52 onto him on an almost daily basis.

"That is not to say that he's a mindless drone. He has his own beliefs, and detests excessive violence. You heard from Honoka—he did nothing more than temporarily paralyze Kurenai in order to save his master when he could have just as easily kill her. He only went full force against me because Zabuza ordered him to. Not so deep down, he's really just a nice guy who's gotten the short end of a really shitty stick.

"If I had left him alone, he would have been directionless. But here, he can be safe and get over Zabuza. He'll probably never get over the man—not really—but he deserves to be someplace safe. Konoha is the safest place I could think of."

"So, you just picked him up like a lost stray?" one of the councilmen—a middle-aged man with a bald head—asked.

"You make it sound so easy," Naruto said dryly. "He's almost as stubborn as me. If Hinata hadn't threatened to—what was it you said, exactly?"

The young Hyuuga smiled. "Kick his ass, I believe."

"Right. If she hadn't threatened to 'kick his ass,' he would still be there… possibly still at his grave."

"And what gave you the right to bring him along?" the man said.

"Right? I had no right. But as far as I can remember, there is no law against it. Haku wasn't making war on our village, nor is he, by definition, a nuke-nin. When we took the contract to protect Tazuna, our job was to defend against threats from Gato. The fact that Zabuza and Haku were the threats was semantics." He placed his palms on the table. "The bottom line is, gentlemen, ladies, is that I did what I thought was right at the time. He needs more help than I can give him. I'll try, but I don't know how well it'll work out. But no matter what you say or do, he's staying. If any of you have a problem with that, you can tell me now."

Naruto's unspoken threat hung in the air like a stench—everyone knew what he was saying between the lines. Finally, Danzo spoke up. "I have reservations about this foolishness," he said. "How do we know that he won't betray us? He has no love for the village. If he's as easily manipulated as you say, why should we trust him?"

Naruto laughed. "Trust? Let's put it this way. He could have killed Kurenai. He didn't. But if killing her would more easily further _your _own goals, Danzo-san, would you hesitate? More simply… can I trust you more than him?"

"Naruto…" the Hokage said, warning the boy.

A glimmer of a smile peeked at the corners of the bandaged man's mouth. "No, Hiruzen. You want your answer, boy? Yes, I would kill her. I'd kill you. I'd kill everyone in this room if I thought it would be for the greater good. So do not harbor any illusions. If I thought that this boy…Haku… was any kind of threat… believe me, Uzumaki, he would be dead before he left this room."

Naruto frowned. This guy was a psycho. But at least he was a _dedicated _psycho. "And what do you think," he replied. "Do you think he's any kind of threat right now?"

Haku was across and a little down the table from Danzo's position. He opened his one good eye and examined the young man. After a moment, he slowly shook his head. "A threat? No. Not at the moment. But he needs to be questioned before he can be allowed to reside here. As you know, that is standard for _all _people, soldier and civilian, when they come to Konoha permanently."

"I know," Naruto said tersely.

"Don't even think about it, Danzo," Inoichi said. "I'm not letting your people do the questioning. I've heard stories about people who've gone into Root headquarters and never came out. _I'll _be examining him. After all… I'm the chief psychological analyst in the village. Even Ibiki can't interrogate or question as well as I."

The Hokage nodded before this could turn into an argument. "Fine," he said. "If you will set a time and place, Naruto can escort him to there. But for now, I don't see any harm in letting him go for the moment. Until then, Naruto, he is to be your responsibility."

Naruto nodded, grateful to his leader. "Hai, Hokage," he said.

"Hiruzen…" Danzo began.

"This decision is final," Sarutobi said. "Unless you'd rather try to put it to a vote?"

Danzo frowned. He'd need a two-thirds vote to overrule the Hokage on anything, but he didn't have enough people here in his pocket to get it. The two empty seats in the room belonged to people who owed him, but even with them, he wouldn't even come close. "Of course not," Danzo said. "But there is one more matter to consider that you may have overlooked: where will the boy stay?"

Naruto smiled. "He'll be staying with me and Hinata in my place," he said. "If he's going to be my responsibility, I have to keep an eye on him somehow, right?"

Sarutobi nodded. "Yes," he said. "Of course. Haku? Does that suit you?"

The boy who'd been silent through all of this nodded. "Yes, Hokage-sama," he said, speaking for the first time. "It would be an honor."

"Good. Teams 7 and 10, you are free to go. Naruto, you'll have a messenger bird arriving at your home sometime tomorrow with the details from Inoichi. Until then, dismissed. Council, stay. We still have business to discuss."

As one, the nine returning shinobi stood and bowed to Sarutobi, then turned and proceeded to the door. It swung open before they could touch it. Naruto smiled just a little. As thick as the door was, they had to have some exceptional ears to hear their footsteps approaching.

The female Chuunin escorted them from the building, leading them down the stairs and out the front door. With a smile, she departed back inside to her regular duties.

Naruto sighed as he looked awkwardly at the large group. He'd spent so much time with them these past two weeks—it felt odd that they'd be parting now. So was the way of life. "Well, that wasn't so bad," he said.

"It could have gone a lot worse," Honoka agreed. "We're lucky they didn't question me letting you two kids take on the enemy by yourself. That is _not _standard operating procedure."

"In any case, thank you," Kurenai said, "for everything you've done for us. We'd probably be dead if it wasn't for you."

Honoka smiled as she shook the woman's hand. "No problem," she said. "Just doing our jobs." She looked at Sakura. "Girl, make sure she goes directly to the hospital from here, all right? She needs to get checked up as soon as possible."

Sakura nodded. "I was gonna do that anyway," she said, smiling.

"Good," Honoka said with a laugh. "Get going. And no, Kurenai, you can't pull rank. You listen to her every order, got it?"

Kurenai smiled wryly. Honoka neither outranked her or had a position to give her orders anymore, but she recognized the wisdom in the woman's words. "Got it," she said. "Come on, Sakura-chan. Who knows what dangers could befall this old woman in the two blocks between here and the hospital?"

Sakura giggled. Sasuke couldn't help but notice how cute it was.

He shocked himself with that thought. Since when did he pay attention to Sakura? Or any girl, for that matter? _Damn it, _he thought. _Am I getting soft? _

Naruto saw the expression on Sasuke's face and grinned. He could practically read his partner's mind. "Hey, Sasuke," he said. "Sakura might need some help if Kurenai gets weak. Isn't the hospital not too much out of your way on the way back to the Uchiha compound?"

"Well, actually—" Naruto moved almost faster than they eye could follow and jabbed Sasuke in the ribs with his elbow. To his credit, Sasuke didn't visibly or audibly acknowledge the small yet sharp pain. Knowing that Naruto wouldn't let it go, he nodded. "Actually, yeah," he said, giving in. "If it's all right with them, I don't mind."

Sakura looked positively stunned. "I—yes, we don't mind, right Kurenai-sensei?"

Kurenai smiled. She'd gotten fond of the girl, so she decided to indulge her—just this time. "No, not at all," she said. "We really could use the help. Thank you, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke shrugged. "No problem," he said. "My day is free, anyway."

They set off, Sakura between Sasuke and Kurenai. It was obvious that Sakura was paying more attention to him than her, but the both of them would catch her easily should she falter. She was in safe hands.

"What was that all about?" Kiba asked.

Naruto laughed. "Sasuke's always so uptight," he said. "It would do him some good to get out a while. And, hey, do you wanna be the one who pulls the stick out of his ass?"

Kiba scowled at the mental image. "Not a chance," he said, chuckling. "Well, I'm outta here. My mom must be going nuts right now! Come on, Akamaru!" The dog jumped out of his coat and began running beside him, boy laughing, dog barking. It was a pleasing sight for Naruto… they'd been through a lot, and deserved to take a break.

"I must go as well," Shino said. "My father will want to examine the insects that I brought from Wave."

Naruto nodded. "All right. Catch ya later."

The Aburame departed down a street other than the one Kiba had taken—the Inuzuka and Aburame complexes were on opposite sides of the village.

And then, there were four.

Honoka sighed. "I get it," she said, without waiting for the younger shinobi to say anything. "You three want your privacy. Time for this old woman to take a hike."

Naruto laughed. "You're not _that _old," he said mischievously. "You're only, what? Five years till retirement?"

Before he could react, Honoka had him in a headlock. "Now, Naruto-kun," she said. "You know what happens now, right?"

Naruto sighed, struggling not to let his face get squashed into her right breast. "You're gonna give me a noogie, aren't you?"

"And we have a winner!" she crowed. "Hinata-chan, tell our lucky contestant what he's won!"

Hinata smiled. "A scalp full of knuckle?" she asked.

"Correct!" she said, as she proceeded to do exactly that.

"Enough, enough!" Naruto laughed as he pushed his friend off of him. He'd ended up getting smashed against her breast, no matter how hard he tried not to… and he really _did _try.

"I'm off to ANBU headquarters," she said, brushing herself down. "I have my own report to file. Don't be a stranger, ok? You're always welcome back if you wanna train with the best."

Naruto and Hinata both nodded. That was no light invitation. The ANBU really _were _the best of the best. "We'll find our way there soon," Hinata promised. "We might even bring Haku, if that's all right?"

"Of course," Honoka replied. "If he's as good as you all say he is… hell, we might end up trying to recruit him. No, Haku, I know that you don't want to do any more fighting right now. But eventually, you will. You're too good at what you do to stay out of the field forever. Whenever you want a job, let me know."

Haku considered her for a moment. "Thank you, Honoka-san," he said. "I shall consider it… but please, do not expect an official answer for quite some time."

"Gotcha," she said. "Well, if that's all… See ya!" She seemed to shimmer out of existence. Her Shunshin no Jutsu was _fast._

"Well, then," Naruto said. "It's just us. Ready to get home, Haku?"

The boy nodded. "Yes," he said. "It will feel good to get off of the road and relax for a while."

"I hear you," Naruto said. "Hinata, let's not keep our guest waiting! Lead on!"

She laughed, then began walking ahead of the boys, leading on toward the house. "Naruto…" she said over her shoulder. "No looking at my ass, got it?"

Naruto grinned. "Wouldn't think of it," he said.

* * *

So, there we have it. That's all I have for you right now. So stop reading!

Ok, you didn't stop. Cool. Seriously, though, I'm burnt out right now. I'm crashing from a sugar and caffeine high, and I'll be hitting rock bottom in just a few minutes.

See ya'll on the other side.

dead witch.


	23. First Day Back

A/N: Yay, here we go again. Sorry this has taken a little longer to put out than the others… I've been a little occupied with Second Chances *plug plug* to devote all of my time to this. Nonetheless, here we are!

Let's see… I just kinda almost somewhat made what might amount to a coffee and/or movie date with a girl this weekend. It's totally cool—she's smart, funny, and can put up pretty well with my oddities. We're probably gonna go see Scott Pilgrim if we can. If not, coffee with a cool girl is just as good, in my opinion.

I'm seriously tired right now… it's almost one, and I'm textin this girl like right now. She'll read this eventually and remember this conversation. Man, that's cool.

All right, later people.

* * *

The next day was a busy one for Naruto, Hinata, and Haku. While Naruto took Haku to the Interrogation office of Konoha, Hinata was busy shopping for groceries. After almost two weeks away from home, most of the food in their refrigerator, including their fruits and vegetables, had gone bad. So when they got the message from Inoichi at about ten in the morning to come in at noon, they agreed to leave for the village together, split up for their separate tasks, and to get back together in the afternoon.

Naruto brought Haku to the interrogation building. A Chuunin with bandages covering the entire top half of his face received them, under orders from Inoichi. He said that it wouldn't take much more than an hour or so, and if Naruto would like to wait in the front office, he would be allowed. Naruto had agreed, not wanting to leave his new friend in a strange place.

Sure enough, less than an hour after he'd been taken away, Haku returned, accompanied not by the Chuunin, but Inoichi himself. With a smile, the older man said that Haku was everything that he'd been told he was, without a shadow of a doubt. His mental abilities were near-legendary, the strongest in recorded history of his clan. There was _nothing _in the human mind that could hide from him.

Naruto was relieved; he had desperately wanted Haku to get a clean pass. After all he'd been through, he deserved some time to live a normal life while he figured everything out.

It was with some pleasure that Naruto guided Haku through the busy streets of Konoha. Though not a market day, the roads were still full of people going about their daily routines. Haku, to his credit, didn't look around with wide eyes like a tourist would, but Naruto knew that he'd spent most of his life traveling, and didn't have much opportunity to just relax in a place with this kind of busy action all around him. Naruto took the pace slowly, the better to get Haku adjusted to his new surroundings.

"Naruto?" Haku said, pointing at a business. "What is in there?"

Naruto looked toward where Haku was indicating. He laughed. "Well… um… yeah," he said, slightly flustered. "You know how women sometimes dance for entertainment, usually for men?"

Haku nodded. "Yes," he said. "Zabuza-sama sometimes had… Oh. Now I see." Haku's cheeks turned red with blush.

Naruto chuckled. "Yeah, it's a topless bar," he said. "You wanna go check it out?"

Panic sprang to Haku's eyes. "No, no!" he said. "I don't—I mean, it's not—"

Naruto laughed. "I'm just messing with you!" he said. "Lighten up, buddy! You're clear from here on out. You can do anything you want! This is your home now. So try to relax?"

Haku smiled slightly. "You are right," he said. "I've just… never been any place that I expected to stay for longer than a few weeks. It will take some getting used to."

"Yeah," Naruto said. "Konoha is a great place at times. For the most part, anyway. There's some things that I don't like here… but honestly? I think I'd die to protect it." He glanced up and to the left. "Check it out," he said, pointing the Hokage monument out to Haku.

Haku looked at the faces carved into the rock. "Who are they?" he asked.

Naruto crossed his arms. He was getting into lecture mode. "Those four," he said, "are the greatest shinobi ever to be produced by this village. The two on the left are the Shodaime and Nidaime Hokages. They were the brothers who, along with Uchiha Madara, founded the village long ago. Both died in combat protecting the village in its early stages… Senju Hashirama left the title to his younger brother, Senju Tobirama, who in turn left it to the next guy—Sarutobi Hiruzen. The old man's been the Hokage for almost fifty years now. You gotta hand it to him—he's one tough old piece of leather."

Haku smiled. "And the fourth?" Haku asked.

Naruto's face darkened. "That is… my father. The Yondaime Hokage. He was given the title from Sarutobi at the end of the Third Shinobi War. He'd hardly had any time in that position before the village was attacked by the Kyuubi. He sealed the demon inside of me when I was born… but he died in the process. Sarutobi took the job back, and has been at it for about thirteen years now." Naruto sighed. "Those men are the greatest heroes we have. They're almost like gods to us. Without them, nothing that you see here would exist. You could say that the first two Hokages changed the world, even. They helped set up the hidden village system that is used all over this half of the world. Because of that, constant wars aren't being fought anymore, and everyone can live in relative peace."

They walked in silence for a little while. Naruto, ruminating on his legacy… and Haku very much the same. _Peace. _That wasn't a concept that he had very much familiarity with. For almost all of his life, the only thing he'd known was training, fighting, and killing. The only peace he'd experienced was the short times between jobs he'd taken with his master.

"Peace… This will take some getting used to," Haku said softly. "But, you know? I might get to like it… eventually."

Naruto smiled. "I hope you do," he said. "We're lucky to have you. And, hey, look on the bright side—you see that girl looking at you? Over there, by the fruit cart?"

Haku glanced over at her. She was a pretty girl, slim and dark haired, maybe fourteen or fifteen—around Haku's age. "Yes," he said. "What about it?"

Naruto grinned. "Dude, let's face it. You're a really pretty guy. The ladies will be eating out of your _hand _before long."

Haku chuckled. "If you say so, friend," he said. "But I've never had much luck with girls. I've never been in one place long enough to make any connections."

Naruto's brow rose. "Is that so?" he asked. "Hold on—wait right here. I'll be right back."

"Wait, Naruto!" Haku cried as Naruto crossed the somewhat busy street to approach the girl. Naruto grinned over his shoulder as he slowly ran to the girl.

They talked for a few minutes, Naruto gesturing a little with his hands as the girl listened, then talked back. After a while, she nodded, blushing all the while. With a satisfied smile, Naruto returned to where he'd left a gape-mouthed Haku.

"What… what did you just do?" Haku asked.

Naruto smirked. "Her name is Mari. Her father owns that cart, and is a farmer outside the village. She runs it four times a week here, including on market days. But in three days, she'll have some time off. That night is when you are gonna take her out on a date."

"A… a _date?_" Haku almost shouted. "What are you thinking?"

Naruto laughed. "You need to loosen up!" he said. "You've been alone so long, you need to practice your social interaction. A blind date is just the thing you need!"

Haku opened his mouth, but closed it, unable to speak. He closed his eyes and took some deep breaths. After a moment of this, he opened them again. "Naruto," he said, "I appreciate this, but it is unnecessary. I already have you, and Hinata, and everyone else who was at Wave—"

Naruto cut him off. "Don't even think about it," he said. "This is not a request. Listen, you're a shinobi. You fight. It is _literally _in your blood. But you said you wanted to live as normal a life as possible, at least for a while. Mari is about as normal as you can get around here. She's cute, she's funny, and she seems to think you're adorable. Don't you think she's cute?"

Haku was pressed. "I—I suppose so," he said. "But—"

"Perfect!" Naruto said. "I'm not asking you to fall in love or anything, for crying out loud! I just want you to get out once in a while. I'm not gonna have you cooped up in my house forever, you know. Eventually, you'll have to find your own place."

Haku nodded. He'd been thinking about that for a few days now. "I know. But—a date?"

Naruto nodded. "Yes. And it's no use arguing." He turned around and stuck a thumb up into the air. The girl squealed, threw her hands in the air, then jumped into the air, startling several customers and those passing by.

"Naruto—what was that?"

The mischievous blond grinned. "I told her I was gonna do that if you said yes. No backing out now. Unless you _want _to ruin her day?"

Haku looked at Mari; she was practically glowing. While selling the fruit from her cart, she kept an eye on the boys, a radiant smile shining from all about.

"No," Haku said finally. "I don't." He looked at his friend and smiled. "Naruto… I appreciate the gesture. But there is something that I feel cannot go without saying."

"Yeah?"

Haku spread his arms. "Just what do you expect me to wear to this date?"

Naruto frowned. Haku was wearing his standard outfit, minus the hair accessories or, of course, his mask. "You have a point," he said. "When we meet up with Hinata, we'll go shopping. Oh, gods, she loves to shop." Naruto grinned suddenly. "By day's end, you'll never, _ever _want to go shopping with her again."

So slight was Haku's gulp it was almost unnoticeable. "You can't be serious," he said.

The blond smiled. "Can't I?"

* * *

Naruto took Haku to lunch at the Ichiraku and introduced him to Ayame and her father. And true to Naruto's word, when they met with Hinata at the appointed time and place and told her what was going on, an almost maniacal gleam came to her eye. She handed the several bags of food she was carrying to Naruto and told him to take them home and put them away while she took him to get his essentials, and to have dinner waiting for them when they got there.

Naruto knew that they wouldn't be back for quite a while if she had her way, so he nodded. When she got like this, there was no getting around her orders. He smiled as he walked away and Hinata almost dragged Haku down another street towards the higher-end shopping district of the village. Haku had absolutely _no _idea what he was in for.

In the meantime, Naruto had a dinner to prepare. Taking stock of the items that Hinata had picked up, he decided that egg rolls and dumplings would be a pretty decent meal to cook. They were fairly simple dishes, but delicious and nutritious.

Naruto grinned when he felt Haku and Hinata, through his connection to the land, walk back onto the property. Though he couldn't see them, he practically knew exactly what they looked like at the moment: Hinata, walking ahead of him, a satisfied smile on her face, with a bag-laden Haku right behind her.

Sure enough, as soon as they entered the house, Hinata was in the lead. Behind her was a completely-laden Haku; in each arm was three or four shopping bags packed full of clothes. "Hey, guys!" he called out from the kitchen. "Have a good time?"

Hinata smiled. "Very much so," she said.

"Speak for yourself," Haku mumbled as he set the bags on the foyer floor. "You didn't have to try on all those clothes."

"Don't be like that!" Hinata said with a laugh. "You had fun and got some new clothes!"

Haku cocked an eyebrow as he set the last bag down. "Fun? Hinata-chan, under you _extremely _watchful eye, I put on no less than a hundred individual garments. You had fun. I put on a fashion show."

Hinata giggled. "But it was so hard finding the right things! Lighten up, at least now you look good, right?"

Haku sighed. "If you say so…" he said.

"What'd you get?" Naruto asked as he pulled a pair of egg rolls from a pan of oil with tongs.

"Your… girlfriend… made me try on some fifty outfits for her approval," he said. "We ended up buying fifteen of them."

"Fifteen? Well, at least you have a good selection now," Naruto said matter-of-factly.

"Yes… but she didn't let me make the decisions. She selected everything."

Hinata frowned. "That's because all you wanted were kimonos and turtlenecks! You're too attractive to look formal and drab all the time!"

Naruto laughed. "Haku, you'll never win an argument with here. Come on you two, dinner's ready." He crossed his fingers and made a couple clones. "They'll take your bags upstairs, but come on and eat before it all gets cold."

Haku nodded. "After all this, I _am _hungry."

"Me too," Hinata said. "What's for dinner?"

"Dumplings and rolls," Naruto said.

"That's good," Hinata said. "We need a filling meal after all that."

Naruto laughed. "I believe it!" he said.

Haku sighed as he sat down at the table. "Naruto… I know your intentions were good," he said. "But if you ever do that to me again, I promise you that you will pay for it."

Naruto smirked as he set the platter of egg rolls before him as Hinata sat down. "Really? How're you gonna do that?"

Haku smiled slightly. "Ever take a cold shower? I will give it _new meaning._"

* * *

Later that evening, Naruto lay on his bed with Hinata in his arms. After that meal, they felt good and full. While the clones were cleaning the kitchen, they helped Haku put his new possessions away in the room he'd chosen—one down the hall and across from their own.

After all that time on the road and in Wave country, it was comforting beyond belief to be in his own home, in his own bed, with the love of his life in his arms. True, he'd spent almost all of his time out there with her, but it just was not the same as being in the security of the house he'd inherited from his father. This was his true sanctuary.

Oddly enough, neither of them much felt like doing much more than simply laying there together. Early on in their romance, when they'd first fallen head-over-heels in love with each other, they'd been passionate to the point of madness whenever they found time to themselves. But now that they'd moved past that and put that out of the way, the simple pleasure of just being close and safe was almost as satisfying as their sexual acts.

They were both fully clothed still, yet made no move to change into nighttime wear. It wasn't that they were lazy, or extremely tired; the spell that befell them in the motionless silence of the room wasn't one that either felt needed to be broken. The steady rhythms of their heartbeats were nearly in synch—Hinata's was slightly faster than Naruto's, but their slow and steady breathing was perfectly in tune.

Not for the first time, Naruto ruminated on the sheer dumb luck that he'd had to fall in love with the most perfect girl in the world. Hinata had told him long ago that it was thanks to Ino that she'd first kissed him. Had it not been for that, he might never have wound up with her. He made a mental note to give his thanks to the other girl. He owed her _so _much.

As the pair slowly drifted off to sleep, something whispered to him from the back of his mind… he couldn't tell what it was… but there was something he'd forgotten. He brushed it aside. Whatever it was, it could wait another day.

Naruto, Hinata, and Haku were sitting at the table eating breakfast when Naruto felt someone enter the property. He frowned; he couldn't tell who it was, which meant it was someone who hadn't yet come here since he'd claimed his inheritance. "We got ourselves a bogey," he said aloud.

Hinata swallowed a mouthful of pancake. "Who is it?" she asked, wiping syrup from the corner of her mouth with a paper napkin.

"I don't know," Naruto said. "New to the property since we've been here. The house defenses won't go active unless I direct them to right now. It'd be kinda stupid to attack someone without knowing who they are."

Haku nodded. Naruto had explained the unique properties of the land and house the night they arrived from Wave. "Stupid indeed," he said.

Naruto pushed his chair back as he stood up. "You guys keep eating," he said. "I'm gonna go see who it is."

They nodded and did just that. Naruto smiled as he walked to the front door. They looked so… _normal._

He opened the door to peer outside. At first, he could see nobody, but in due time a figure broke from the tree line wearing a familiar mask. "Hey, guys!" he shouted over his shoulder. "It's Kakashi-sensei!"

Hinata smiled. "Oh, good," she said. "Hatake Kakashi is our Jounin sensei," she explained to Haku. "He's the one in charge of our training and leads us out on missions. He's one of the strongest ninja around, anywhere." She stood up and grabbed Haku's wrist. "Come on and meet him!"

Haku smiled as he set his fork and knife down. "As you wish," he said. He followed her to the door just as Kakashi arrived and stood in its frame.

"Yo," the elder shinobi said, the ever-present _Icha Icha _book in his hand, the latest volume in the series. "Just came by to say hi. I happened to be in the area, and thought I'd drop by." He sniffed the air. "Do I smell pancakes?"

Naruto laughed. "Yeah, we were just eating," Naruto said as he ushered his mentor inside. "You hungry?"

Kakashi smiled with his visible eye as he stowed his book. "A little bit, sure," he said. "I just got back from my recon mission with Kusa, and I haven't eaten since yesterday. Who cooked?"

Hinata smiled. "Naruto did everything," she said. "He's getting pretty good at this stuff, actually. He'll make an excellent housewife one day." She dodged a sausage link thrown at her by the boy in question.

"I'll show you housewife!" he said with a laugh as he lifted another to throw. He cocked his arm back, released—

The instant it left his hand, it vanished.

Naruto looked around wildly. Where the hell did it go? He turned to Kakashi, to see him chewing something, then swallow. "Wow, Naruto," he said. "This really _is _pretty good."

Naruto's jaw dropped. He hadn't even seen Kakashi _move. _In the instant he released the sausage, Kakashi had moved, grabbed it, pulled down his mask, and eaten it. _Without being seen._

"Y-yeah," he said. "I did. Hinata bought them from the butcher's shop, but I spiced them up a little."

Kakashi smiled again. "Well, I hope there's more still," he said. "I really do have an appetite."

Naruto nodded. He'd never seen beneath Kakashi's mask; he doubted that _anyone _living had. "No problem," he said, a plan formulating in his mind. "Sit down, and I'll get you a plate."

Kakashi nodded, taking the empty seat beside Haku's. Naruto set a plate stacked high with pancakes and sausage in front of him and sat himself down, Haku and Hinata following suit. Both of them seemed to pick up on Naruto's goal, and seemed interested in the same. They began to eat once more, but kept half an eye on the Jounin as he picked up a fork and butter knife. "This looks so good," he said casually. "Where to begin?"

Naruto grabbed the pitcher of syrup and handed it to him. "Want some?" he asked.

Kakashi nodded. "Gladly," he said and poured half its remaining contents onto his short stack. He grabbed his fork again. He glanced out the window. "Naruto… what is that?"

Naruto snorted. "I'm not falling for that, sensei!" he said.

Kakashi shook his head. "I didn't think you would," he said, seconds before something smacked into the window.

Naruto nearly jumped out of his seat as he turned around to see what the matter was. It seemed that a bird had accidentally flown into it. It was stunned, but alive; it got up after a few seconds, shook itself off, and flew shakily off.

_No! _Naruto mentally screamed. He turned back to Kakashi in a blur—

Whose plate was completely empty, save for some pancake crumbs and dabs of syrup. "Well, that was delicious," he said as he set a napkin down. "But I really do have to go and make my report to the Hokage. We've learned a lot the past couple of weeks, and he'll want to know it all as soon as possible." He stood up. "It was nice meeting you, Haku. I hope we'll meet again soon."

He departed, leaving the trio stunned, even the normally-stoic Haku. "Does he usually leave you that baffled?" the ice shinobi asked.

"Yeah," Naruto grumbled. "I just wanna know how he ate all that that quickly."

"I want to know how he knew my _name," _Haku said. "I never introduced myself."

Naruto frowned. The man was full of surprises.

* * *

At about three in the afternoon, Naruto and Hinata got an unpleasant surprise, once again in the form of Kakashi. "Hey," he said as Naruto let him into the house. "Sarutobi wants to see you two. Sasuke, too."

Naruto frowned. This did not bode well. Every time they were called to the old man's office, they were sent on another near-suicide mission. This had to stop. "What about?" he asked.

"He has a mission that requires your… talents," he said. He didn't mention the fact that they were Sanseirei; he assumed (rightfully) that Haku did not know about that.

"Is this anything like our first mission?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi paused. "Not… exactly."

The boy sighed. "I'll get Hinata, and tell Haku we'll be back soon," he said. "Give me a few minutes."

Kakashi nodded and pulled his book from his vest. "I'll be here," he said as he flipped it open to a saved page.

Naruto went upstairs and into his room. "Hinata," he said as soon as he saw her. She was sitting on their bed, painting her toe nails a bright shade of red. "Kakashi's here. Says we have a mission. Sarutobi wants to see us."

Hinata turned her gaze to him. "Does he, now?" she asked.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. Sounds pretty big."

Hinata frowned. "Whatever it is, it can wait for my nails to dry," she said.

Naruto smiled. "You know what? You're probably right. Take your time." He informed Haku that they would be gone for a while, then went back downstairs to his sensei.

"She'll be here in a few minutes," he said.

Kakashi nodded curtly. "Fine," he said, his eye never leaving the book. "We aren't pressed for time. But we don't need to dawdle, either."

After about five minutes, Hinata strode down the stairs to them. Kakashi put his book away. "Ready?" he asked.

Hinata smiled sweetly. "Ready," she said. She opened the door and lead them outside. She broke into a full-speed sprint, Naruto and Kakashi right behind her.

In no time at all, they were in the village proper and leaping over the roofs of buildings as they closed in on the Hokage's office complex. They finally stopped at the main door and were greeted by the same female Chuunin who'd met the arriving party the day before. Without a word, she lead them upstairs to the Hokage's personal office.

Kakashi opened the door and thanked her. She scurried off—whatever was going on here, she wanted no part of.

"Welcome," Sarutobi said from behind the desk. Sasuke was already there, his fingers laced together in front of his face.

"Hello, Hokage-sama," Hinata said respectfully.

The old man smiled at the pretty young girl. "Good to see you again, Hinata-chan," he said kindly. "We didn't get to talk yesterday, but personal conversation is difficult with the Council breathing down your neck."

_Speaking of breathing down your neck _Naruto was tempted to say, though he held himself in check. There was no reason to get snarky at the moment. "So," he said instead. "What's going on?"

Perhaps Sarutobi caught the edge in the boy's voice. "Something's come up," he said briskly. "We have something of a situation."

Dead silence fell over the room. Everyone there, it seemed, was waiting for someone else to speak first. Finally, Naruto spoke up. "What kind of situation are we talking about?" he asked slowly.

"In River country, there is a growing number of nuke-nin coming under the flag of an unknown leader. We have no idea who it could be, but from the sheer amount of people flocking there, and the level of skill many of them exhibit, there are concerns that there could be trouble brewing. We need to know three things—who, exactly, is sending out the call for these rogue shinobi, to what purpose they are being put to, or will be put to, and where their headquarters are.

"Your job is to infiltrate the legion and discover all of this. Time is an issue here."

Naruto, Hinata, and Sasuke looked at him with different expressions on each of their faces. The room was once again silent as the grave.

"Huh," Naruto said after a moment. "Well, this is interesting. Who's hired us for this mission?"

"Nobody," Kakashi said. "This is one that Konoha is taking at its own behest. River country borders our own. It is critical that any military operation, whether official or not, not get by without our leave. As you know, River doesn't have its own shinobi village, and their people hire us for much of their work. If these nuke-nin are there to negotiate with the government to form a new village, our own could be in some danger."

Sasuke frowned. "Maybe," he said. "But our treaty with them says that we can't go there unless on a mission for their government, right?"

Sarutobi nodded. "That's why this is a black op," he said. "Unofficial. This conversation never happened. You will _officially _go on an escort mission to Taki while away."

"And how long is this supposed to take?" Naruto asked.

Sarutobi narrowed his eyes slowly. "It'll take some time to get recruited, then taken to the headquarters of this group," he said. "Roughly one to two months is the best I can guess."

Naruto frowned. "Sir? Requesting permission to speak freely."

Sarutobi nodded. "Granted."

Naruto took a deep breath. This was gonna hurt. "How many ANBU are guarding you right now?"

Sarutobi studied the boy. What was he up to? "Four are on call at the moment," he said.

"Ah. And, since they're here, listening to this conversation, that they know everything already? About our special… designation?"

"Whatever I know," Sarutobi said, "they know."

Naruto hummed. "All right," he said. "Well, I'll have to ask them to leave for a while, then."

Sarutobi's eyes went wide. "What? Why?"

Naruto eyed his Hokage and leaned forward slightly. "Because I don't think it would do their image any good if they giggle when I tell you to take this mission and stick it up your ass."

Naruto heard Hinata, Sasuke, and Kakashi all hiss at his pronouncement. He didn't care. He had to say it to get his point across.

"Naruto," Sarutobi said slowly, his words carefully measured. "Please tell me that you have a very, _very _good reason for talking to me in such a manner."

Naruto nodded. "Of course I do, Professor," he said, using the old man's battlefield moniker. "We just got back from long missions—_all _of us. We're tired. We're cranky. We want to enjoy our own beds. We want to have some time to relax in our own homes. Since graduation, it's been nothing—_nothing—_but training, training, training, with a couple missions thrown in here and there. You kept us three at ANBU barracks for two months before sending us into another two months of an assassination mission that went balls up before it even started. Days after we returned from that, we went on a freaking rescue mission to another freaking _country _to fix a mistake.

"In those four and a half months, we've had maybe two total weeks to ourselves. I can't speak for my team—and yes, Kakashi-sensei, I'm including you in this—but I'm exhausted. I'm weary to the point where I hate getting out of bed in the morning. Do you know what was the first thought I had today? 'God, I hope I don't have to deal with any shit today.' That is seriously the first thing that came to mind.

"In the past two missions—two out of two, I might add—we've fought two of the Mist Seven. I have a sinking suspicion that it's gonna become a habit soon enough. Are you going to have us take them all out at once, or stagger it a little bit? Because the suspense is killing me.

"This seems like a mission that doesn't need us. Any of your trusted commanders could infiltrate an organization like this. Hell, you could sneak three or four in, if this group is as large as you're making it out to be. And three people our age trying to get in? _That's _not suspicious.

"All in all?" Naruto paused for a breath. "All in all, I think we've earned a vacation, especially considering that our last one was interrupted."

His last words seemed to echo in the room as everyone remained motionless. What would happen next?

"Is that all?" Sarutobi said softly.

Naruto nodded, gulping slightly.

"Good," he said. "Now, it's my turn." He locked eyes with the youth. "First off, you have a lot of gall to come into _my _office, speak to _me _like that, in such a disrespectful tone. Usually I like gall—sometimes I even award it—but not this time. Who, exactly, do you think you are?"

Naruto's eyes never wavered. "I am the Inugami of the Sanseirei," he replied. "So, you know what? Maybe I should be asking _you _who you think _you're _talking to."

Sarutobi snorted. "Cute," he said. "But you—all of you—are my soldiers. You exist for a single purpose: to fulfill my will."

Naruto looked a little more intensely at the Hokage. "Is that a fact? Yes, that's what you told us from the outset, but you know what? I'm not quite so sure."

"What do you mean?" Hinata asked.

"I mean," Naruto said, "that Sarutobi-sama hasn't given us the full story on the purpose of the Sanseirei. Way back when this all started, he said, and I quote, 'I am the final authority.' But… that's not entirely true, is it?"

"What are you talking about, boy?" Sarutobi barked.

Naruto turned his gaze from Hinata to the old man. "I mean," he said slowly, "that I think that you've been jerking us around enough. Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure, I, Uzumaki Naruto, jinchūriki of the Kyuubi and Inugami of the Sanseirei, do here and now invoke Black File Nine."

The old man's eyes closed. "You play a dangerous game," he said after an uncomfortable silence.

"What is this… Black File?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto frowned. "That's right… you wouldn't know," he said. "But Kakashi does. As the ranking captain of the ANBU, he was in a position to know about one of them."

"So what is it?" Hinata asked.

"The Black Files," Naruto said, "is a series of triple-S class documents that give certain people extraordinary authority in matters of government and military operations in the village. They are a small series of checks and balances that were put into place by the Shodiame and Nidaime Hokages after the village was solidly into place. The recognized that one person with the power that they held could not always be trusted with said power, so made several different secret files that explained, in black and white, how certain people in the village can operate individually; or, in the case that the Hokage himself is deemed unfit for the job, it lays out procedures for removing him from his position.

"Nobody except for the Hokage himself knows all of the Black Files. Some, like Nara Shikaku, Shikamaru's dad, know two, seeing as how he's both the Jounin Commander and a member of the Council. But save for myself and Sarutobi-sama, nobody in the village knows more than that."

"But how do you know all of these?" Kakashi asked carefully.

Naruto snorted. "Do you forget already? I wear the mask of the Inugami. And what was my father?"

"The Yondaime Hokage," Hinata breathed.

Naruto nodded. "Exactly. I know each and every single backdoor that this village has, literally and metaphorically. But wait—it's not over. When he gave us our masks, Sarutobi-sama should have told us about the Ninth Black File. But he didn't." He once again locked eyes with the man. "Would you mind explaining to us, the kids who you've turned into your most loyal murderers, what could make you forget about that little detail?"

Sarutobi laced his fingers. "That is none of your concern," he said.

"Bull shit," Naruto said. "This is pretty big, Sandaime. You—you abused your power. You tried to make us puppets, keep us out of the village, _lied _to us, and me especially, and for what? Tell me, Sandaime. Tell me!"

"What I do and how I do it is none of your concern," he said.

"Seriously? Are you seriously listening to yourself right now? Sasuke, Hinata… would you like to know what the contents of the Ninth Black File are?"

Sasuke grunted. "If it pertains to us… yes. I think we should know."

Naruto smiled in grim pleasure. "The Ninth File," he said, "in so many words, tells us that we, as the Sanseirei, should we come to unanimous decision, may at any time choose to disregard the orders of any official superior officer, up to and including the Hokage. Furthermore, should we choose to exercise that right, we are under no obligation to take any mission, official or unofficial, from him until we decide.

"The Sanseirei are a secret group, for a good reason. The masks are powerful, yes. But the true kick they give us in matters such as these are complete and total freedom. We are not bound by the laws of the village or the country. He didn't tell us this. He didn't tell us about the Black Files. Well, guess what? You screwed up. I'm going to put it to a vote. Hinata, Sasuke—what do you say we take a well-earned vacation?"

He looked at his partners one by one. "Well… I'm in," Sasuke said after a while. "I haven't had a chance to do any training at all. I hadn't had any time in the Forest of Death to get anything done. I think it's time that I go back there."

"Hinata?"

She looked at her lover. "I'm with you," she said immediately. "I haven't felt safe—really safe—for a long time. I'm tired of always being in danger. I'm tired of killing. I didn't exactly count, but almost thirty men, I think, died by my sword at Tazuna's house. I've had enough for right now."

Naruto threw a dirty look at the Hokage. "Well," he said, "there you have it. You know where we stand. The question is… where do _you _stand, sir?"

Sarutobi frowned. "I stand," he said, "it a place that only I can. If you go through with this, you have no idea what kind of problems you will create."

Naruto stood up. "That's not my concern," he said coldly. "You lied to us, used us, and put us in more danger that we have a right to be in. We're all a lot stronger than we used to be… but you seem to forget one simple thing."

"Oh? And what would that be?" Sarutobi asked.

Naruto put his palms on the man's desk and leaned forward. "No matter how badly you want it, I can never replace my father. I'll probably never be as strong as he was. Maybe he followed you with blind loyalty, but you left me all alone for all those years, without _anything _to really call my own. And don't think for a _second _that I don't know about Jiraiya."

"Jiraiya?" Kakashi said, frowning with his eyes. "What does the Sannin have to do with this?"

Naruto looked at him. "You didn't know?" he said. "Jiraiya was supposed to be my godfather. But he left a long time ago, right after Orochimaru defected… just weeks before I was born."

Kakashi looked sharply at the Hokage. "Is this true?" he asked coldly. "Have you really let him live alone all this time… had Jiraiya been gone all this time… when his rightful place was raising his prized student's son?"

"It's not that simple," Sarutobi said.

"How complicated can it be?" Hinata asked. "You've let him be emotionally abused for years! He's had to fight for his life since he could walk, and you never cared!" She stood up and grabbed Sasuke by the wrist. "Hokage-sama," she said, "you have our decision. Until we decide that—that you can be trusted—just leave us alone. Don't send anybody, don't try to talk to us."

She turned and walked to the door. With a flick of her wrist, the doors were slammed open and off of their hinges as a blast of pure chakra flew from her palm.

Sasuke gently shook from here grasp. "Nice move," he said. "Remind me not to make you mad, Hinata-chan."

Naruto followed them out of the door, enjoying the startled expressions on the Jounin guards who'd almost been hit by the doors. "Hokage-sama," he said, stopping. "I'd listen to Hinata-chan if I were you. But don't think that this is over. We still have a discussion about my mother to work in. Keep your schedule clear."

Naruto felt eyes on his back as he left the office, then the building. He didn't care. Let them think what they wanted. He had more important things to worry about.

"Well… that didn't go exactly as planned," Kakashi said after a few moments.

Sarutobi nodded. "I didn't expect for him to invoke the Black File so soon," he said. "I'm as surprised as you are on that fact. But everything else—yes."

Kakashi chuckled. "You should have seen the expression on your face when he told you to… how did it go? Oh, yes—'Take this mission and stick it up your ass.'"

Sarutobi frowned. "I didn't think he'd go quite that far. But for everything to go right, I suppose things have to be taken to extremes at times."

Kakashi made a sound of affirmation. "Are you sure about this?" he asked. "I wouldn't be surprised if he held all of this against you for a long time to come."

The old man nodded again. "Fairly sure," he said. "Word will spread of this outburst, I assure you. It's already in the works. Not the precise contents, but the general idea. It would take a lot of brass to tell me off such as he has." He narrowed his eyes. "Now… all we have to do is see who seeks him out against me."

Kakashi turned away. "I'm still not too sure about this," he said. "But I'll go along with it for now. But he was right—you should have informed them of their rights as Sanseirei a long time ago. You won't be winning points with them for a long time to come."

The old man closed his eyes. "I know," he said softly. "But that's a risk that I have to take. Something is going on right now… somebody is making a major power play, and I still do not know who it is. Our worst nightmare is about to be realized… someone on the inside of our village is seeking our destruction. To save it, I'll have him mad at me for the rest of his life, so long as it's for the greater good."

Kakashi didn't make comment. He merely pulled his book from his vest and opened it to a saved page. After a moment, he said, "Have it your way. But if you can avoid it… don't drag me into the middle of it anymore. Those three will soon be strong enough to take me down, should they feel it necessary. I will not make myself an enemy of them. Sasuke, especially. He harbors his own demons, and I don't mean the Tengu. Be careful with that one. We still don't know what he's capable of."

"I know," said Sarutobi. "Those three keep me up at nights sometimes."

"They should," Kakashi said over his shoulder as he left through the demolished doorway. "The fate of Konoha could very well be in their hands one day. Do not underestimate them." He left, leaving the Hokage in his own thoughts.

_He's right, _thought Sarutobi. _I need to tread lightly with these three. They will surpass the Sannin… and that is when things will get critical._

Well now… _that _was interesting, wouldn't you agree? We've taken an interesting turn here. The moment a lot of you've been waiting for—when Naruto calls out Sarutobi—has come. True to history, though, it doesnt' end up anything like he expected it would. The poor boy just can't catch a break. Things will be very interesting from here on out.

Live well, and be excellent to each other.

dead witch.


	24. Here We Go

A/N: Welcome back! It's been a little bit longer than usual, but I decided to take a small break and do some reading—you have no idea how long it's been since I've sat my ass down and just read someone else's story. And I gotta tell you… I just now realize just how far I have to go before I'm as good as I think I am.

For those of you who like Haku-based stories, there is a series by Jonohex that you must read. The first story is called "Broken Tool," and the sequel is "Kirigakure's Shore." Both are superb examples of writing that I can only aspire to. Check em out.

In any case, here we go with Chapter 24. I truly hope you enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 24**

"Naruto?" Hinata whispered as she entered the living area of the first floor. "Naruto, are you ok?"

He'd been sitting in the dark, all lights off, the window blinds shut against the moonlight. It wasn't often that he got into moods like this; when he did, approaching him was hazardous at best.

Naruto slowly turned to her. Instead of the malice that he might have for someone interrupting his alone time, his eyes held nothing but warmth for her. She felt a tiny flutter somewhere inside; those eyes were for her alone, and she treasured them beyond all else.

He shook his head. "Ok? No. I'm not ok. I've been a pawn… no, _we've _been pawns from the start. Sarutobi never meant to tell us everything. He lied to us… he _used _us. I told Haku that shinobi weren't just _tools! _And this… this is what we come back to? Returning to a man who's used us like—like Momochi Zabuza would?" He crossed his arms. "This is complete and utter bullshit!"

Hinata frowned as she sat next to him in the darkness. She pressed against him and leaned on his side, resting her head on his shoulder. He instinctively put his arm around her, pulling her close. "Maybe it's not quite that bad," she said softly. "You know the responsibilities he has. Maybe there's a chance that everything is happening this way for a reason."

Naruto sighed. "Maybe," he conceded. "Maybe there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for why he's lied to us, held information back from us, and put us in way more danger than we ought to be in. Maybe there's a grand master plan that has us right in the middle and we have to play our part. But you know what? I don't care. We aren't _tools, _Hinata. We're fucking _people. _I had to literally _punch _that line of reasoning into we're being used, we have the right to know."

She nodded against his shoulder. "You're right," she said. "About everything. But the question we have to ask ourselves is… what comes next? What do we do now?"

Naruto frowned in the gloom. "I don't know," he admitted. "I just don't know. We can live our lives in exile for as long as we want, but the fact is that one day soon we'll be called on again, Black File or no. We'll deal with that when we cross that bridge. But for now… let's just relax. Try to enjoy life a little."

Hinata pulled away and looked at him. "Is that what you really want to do?" she asked. "Just sit around and feel sorry for yourself?"

Naruto was suddenly on the defensive. "That's not what I said!" he protested. "I just meant—"

"You meant that you're running away," Hinata accused. "That's what it's beginning to sound like!"

Where was this coming from? "That's not fair! I don't want to run away! I just want to get the respect I deserve! You of all people know what I've been through!"

"Of course I do! Naruto, we've shared things nobody would believe. I know how hard life has been for you. But you aren't the only one who's had to rise up from rock bottom. You helped pull me out of the worst place in my life, Naruto, but I had to climb to get out of that hole, too. But you—you're sitting in that hole of your own, and you aren't even trying to get out!" She crossed her arms. "Tell me," she continued, "how are you going to earn this respect you want? Do you just expect it to be handed to you? Will you take it by force if need be?"

The boy was almost speechless. "No!" he said, finding the words to reply. "I just—damn it, I don't know!" He stood up and put his hands on his head. "I just don't know! So much has been thrown at us so quickly, I don't know where I stand! We've been through a lot, you, me, Sasuke… but in the end, we're all on our own, trying to make our way through this."

Hinata stood up and looked him square in the eye. "You really think you're alone?" she asked softly. "I've been there with you every step of the way. Don't think for one second that you've ever been alone. I love you, Naruto, but it's time for you to wake up. One way or another, Sasuke and I will always be there for you, and I know you'll be there for us. In case you hadn't realized…" Her voice cracked. "We… w-we're all the family any of us really has anym-more."

A wave of guilt washed over the boy. "Hinata," he murmured, gently taking her into his arms. "Of course I know this. Sasuke is like a brother… granted, a brother who's kind of a prick sometimes, but still… I know that we have to stick together. But try to understand, we all have our own demons to face. And please try to ignore the pun. Not too long ago, I learned that the Kyuubi somehow escaped from my mother and nearly destroyed the village. My father was the Hokage. After all this time, people are _just _beginning to treat me as something other than a weapon, and that's mostly on the weight of my father's name. I can't ride that forever. I can only trust you two fully right now.

"But I can't trust myself… not just yet."

Hinata looked him in the eye once more. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Naruto turned his gaze away. "I… after what happened on the bridge," he said, "only now do I fully realize how dangerous I am. I need to undergo some intense training if I'm going to master the Kyuubi. It'll be dangerous, and there is a really good chance that I'll lose control somewhere along the way."

The Hyuuga frowned. "What are you talking about," she asked. "What are you planning?"

Naruto paused for a moment. "I mean," he said slowly, "that I think I have to go away for a while. I can't put the village in danger once again if I'm going to be doing this. It's too risky by far."

"I'm coming with you," she said immediately. "You aren't going to leave me behind that easily."

Naruto shook his head. "I can't let you do that," he said stiffly. "You'd be in too much danger."

Hinata poked him in the chest. "Danger? _Danger? _I've been in more danger in the past month than anybody has a right to! Don't you talk to me about danger, Uzumaki Naruto! I will take anything you give me and sip tea all the while!"

Naruto smiled. He had to admire her fire. "Hinata, I love you," he said. "But I'm not going under regular training here. I'm going to be working to tame the freaking _Kyuubi. _Sando once told me that Aoiryu has some techniques to quell demonic chakra, right? Do you know any of them yet?"

She frowned. "Well, no, but—"

"And realistically, do you think that you could stand up to me if I lose control to the fox?"

"That's not the point—"

"Do you think that you could kill me if you had to?" That stopped Hinata cold. "Do you think," Naruto went on, "if I lost control totally and absolutely, and you couldn't stop me without hurting me… could you kill me for the greater good?"

Tears welled in Hinata's eyes. "Don't ask me that," she begged softly. "Anything but that. Ask if I'll die for you. Ask if I'll kill for you. I'll say yes in a heartbeat. But I could never kill you. You're the only one I've ever really loved, except for my sister. I could never kill you. I'd sooner kill myself." She pressed her face into his chest, tears flowing out and soaking his shirt.

Naruto wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tight. "I know," he whispered. "That's why you can't come this time. You have your own training to undergo. You can't let me hold you back with all of this."

She pressed into him. Her tears were flowing free into him. "It's not fair," she said, her voice even. "I just found you. I don't want to lose you, not after everything we've been through."

Naruto nuzzled her cheek. "You aren't gonna lose me," he said. "I'll come back, I promise. Nothing in the world could keep me from you for too long." He pulled back slightly and smiled at her. "And, hey—it's not like I'm leaving today, or tomorrow, or the day after that. We just got back, we survived telling the Hokage himself to buzz off… it's time for us to finally enjoy our lives. I'll wait as long as I think I can before I leave, I swear to you. But eventually… the fox _will _come to collect on my promise. And believe me, he won't want to wait too long for me to deliver.

"I have a little time to work with… maybe a week. That's when I'll leave. But until then…" He smiled warmly and kissed her gently. "I'm all yours, body… and soul."

Hinata laughed through her tears. "You idiot," she said softly. "I already have those things. You've been mine for over four months now."

He smiled at her, then pulled her closer to him. "True enough," he said. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

Hinata squeezed his torso. "I wouldn't let you."

* * *

The next day, Haku didn't show up for breakfast. Hinata and Naruto searched the house for him, but the boy was nowhere to be seen. They called out his name, but no response was returned.

Naruto cast out his senses to the entirety of his property; after only half a moment, he found the boy near the back of his land at a decent-sized pond.

Naruto told Hinata where he was, and the two decided to go and check up on him. He'd gone through a lot since the fateful day on the bridge, and so many changes in such a short time would undoubtedly leave him with a lot to go through, mentally and emotionally.

A few minutes after they entered the treeline, they arrived at a small clearing with a pond in the middle. Haku stood upon the pond, facing away from them, his arms held to his sides and slightly up.

Naruto and Hinata stopped moving as soon as they saw him, obviously, he was in the middle of something. To go any further and they would interrupt him.

He was dressed in a simple white tank top and swimming trunks—a far cry from what he'd worn in Wave country. It seemed that when merely practicing, he chose to forego the combat attire that he was most comfortable in.

Before they could turn back, though, Haku burst into movement. He flashed through a set of one-handed signs, and over a dozen Mizu Bunshin formed around him from the water below. At some unknown signal, they each sprang at Haku, their cloned kunai and senbon clutched in their fists.

Those with the spine needles threw them deftly at the real boy, who whipped his double-sided kunai out in both hands and deflected nearly all of them. Those he couldn't intercept he dodged, his natural speed and flexibility saving him from any harm. Some of the needles found targets in other clones, mostly in their torsos or extremities, but one unlucky one got one caught in the forehead, right between the eyes. Thought most of these injuries were nonfatal, they collapsed into the water they stood on, splashing their neighbors and forming large ripples in the pool.

Four down… Nine to go.

Those with senbon still threw more at the boy, who sprang into kinetic action. He dodged them all instead of parrying, then ran at the nearest clone. He slashed with his right kunai, catching it in the throat. The surprised look on its face made the parody of the real deal seem insanely human. It dissolved, but not before the rest of the clones could press their attack.

Several of them leapt straight at the boy, while three or four jumped into the air to attack from above. Those gone aerial threw what weapons they had at their target, while the ones on the real Haku's level gang-rushed him, attempting to pierce his defenses all at once.

It was all for naught; the nearly-unnatural speed Haku possessed allowed him to slash at each and every single one of his clones that came within range. Before they could touch him, he'd injured each, and within seconds they were nothing but ripples in the pool.

This entire exercise took no more than four seconds.

Naruto and Hinata walked toward the pool. "Nice work," the blond said, grinning. "Holy crap, you're fast!"

Haku turned to them, a small smile on his face as he walked to the edge of the pond. "Thank you," he said as he stepped onto the shore and grabbed an awaiting towel. "But this is a simple training exercise that I've been doing for years. It warms me up for the grueling work later on."

Naruto shook his head. This guy was almost as big a freak in his training as he himself was! "Some warm-up," he said with a laugh. "I do that with my own clones sometimes… but not too many at a time. My taijutsu may not exactly suck, but ten of me on one of me, even with them only a fraction of my strength, could take me down."

Haku finished drying himself off, his long hair tousled hair falling in damp waves as he pulled it from the towel. "Speed is the most important thing," Haku said. "If you can hit your enemy before he can hit you, nine times out of ten it won't matter how much stronger he is." He held up a senbon in between his fingers. "This," he said, waving it slightly, "can be even more dangerous than a kunai or shuriken. You can stab someone with a dozen shuriken and they might survive; but if placed correctly, a single needle can paralyze, or even kill."

Naruto smirked. "I've seen your handiwork, remember?" he said. "I know _exactly _how skilled you are."

Haku smiled slightly. "Do you, now?" he said. "I don't believe I ever showed you my strongest technique. Would you like to see?"

Naruto frowned. What was his newest friend up to? "What kind of technique?" he asked warily.

Haku angled his head at the pond. "Come. I will show you." Haku sighed when Naruto hesitated. "I'm not going to _kill _you, Naruto. I would merely like to show you the mechanics of the jutsu. It is the strongest of my Kekkei Genkai abilities that I have developed as of yet. Also, it in itself is a good training tool to work on speed and agility. Those two factors are key in any taijutsu training."

Naruto paused… then nodded. "Fine," he said. "Just try not to hurt me, ok?"

The older youth smiled as he approached the pond. "Fine," he said. "I will try to restrain myself."

Naruto followed Haku onto the pond, and when they were in the middle, Haku turned to face his boarder. "You do remember my ice mirrors, I assume?" Haku asked.

Naruto nodded and smiled. "Yeah," he said. "Those were a hell of a lot of trouble."

"Indeed," Haku said. "But what I showed you before was—and I hope you can forgive this metaphor—only the tip of the iceberg."

Naruto chuckled at the pun. "All right," he said. "Bring it on. Show me what you got."

"Understood," Haku said. His right hand flew through seals. "Here we go."

* * *

"A freaking _prison?_" Naruto wailed, massaging his shoulder as the trio trooped back into his home. "I knew that you could make a lot of those mirrors, Haku, but twenty? Exactly how strong are you?"

Haku smiled slightly at the boy's wounded pride. For over a solid hour, he'd put him through his paces inside his prison of ice mirrors. At his present level of speed and agility, Naruto hadn't stood a snowball's chance in hell against him while surrounded on all sides by his Kekkei Genkai's ultimate technique. True, he was strong in his own right, but without tapping into the strength of the Kyuubi, he just wasn't fast enough to dodge too many of Haku's attacks.

In fact, he had to take it easy on the younger boy. Instead of a constant barrage of needles as he would against any other foe, he sniped sporadically at Naruto, leaping between mirrors in a flash, keeping him off-center, and only throwing one senbon at a time, but never aiming to kill. Mostly, he aimed for the boy's feet; thus, Naruto walked gingerly into his home, the punctures on each foot causing him mild, but infuriating, pain.

"Yes, a prison," Haku said, bringing up the rear and closing the back door. "It is a useful technique when dealing with single opponents, even up to three or four. When inside of it, I am told that it is psychologically damaging. Seeing the very same opponent on all sides, not knowing which is the true person, nor which way the next attack will come from, can cause a man to break. Indeed… several times, I've had men simply give up once the reality of the situation came to them."

"Before you killed them," Naruto said flatly.

Haku hesitated… then nodded. "Yes," he said softly. "Before I killed them."

Naruto sighed. "Well… that is an _infuriatingly _grueling jutsu," he said. "How many mirrors can you make, total?"

Haku thought for a moment. "I use twenty for the prison technique," he said. "But there have been days that I have had to use it two or three times a day. It is extremely taxing on chakra, so I must be careful. The less chakra I have, the weaker they become. If I run out, they will fall to the earth, crushing anyone below." He smiled somewhat sardonically. "That's actually how I beat a nuke-nin who was trying to kill me a few years ago when I had first learned that skill… I got exhausted and fell out of the back of one of my mirrors. Luckily for me, the one on top took him by surprise and…" He clapped his hands softly. "Splat."

Naruto held up a hand. "I get it, I get it," he said with a laugh. "Turning failure into success, even accidentally, is still a win."

Haku smiled lightly. "Zabuza-sama chastised me for my lax control. He said that if I hadn't been lucky as a charm, whatever that meant, I would be dead, and he would have wasted five years honing a tool." He frowned. "You know… When I went out there to practice, not a thought crossed my mind but the drive to strengthen myself. Every single day I was with Zabuza-sama was one of intense practice and drill. It wasn't until I saw you two that I realized that I didn't even want to fight anymore… that I want to live as normal a life as possible." He looked down at the senbon in his hand, one of the remaining few he hadn't tossed. "But I can't be normal, can I? Not after all of this time… The life of the warrior is too ingrained into my soul. It is who I _am, _Naruto, Hinata.

"With your blessing… I think that I'd like to take Honoka-chan up on her offer and try out for your ANBU squad."

A tense silence filled the air. "Haku," Naruto growled slowly, "don't you think that you're moving just a little bit fast? You only just got here two days ago… maybe you should take a little bit longer to make your decision?"

Haku sat down at the kitchen table and steepled his fingers. "Trust me, Naruto-kun," he said. "Ever since she made the offer, it's almost the only thing that I could think of. I am not at all used to being taken care of as you and Hinata have done for me. I am used to moving, to action, to…"

"Violence?" Hinata suggested quietly.

Haku nodded. "I am too accustomed to being a warrior to simply sit in your home all day. Tell me, if you brought a wild bird into your bedroom, do you think for a moment that it will sit still of its own free will? No—it will fly around and around until it either dies of exhaustion or finds an open window. Naruto, _this _is my window. I have to do what I know… and what I know isn't very nice. Nonetheless, it is my purpose."

Naruto palmed his face. "Are you sure about this?" he said through his fingers. "I mean, are you _sure? _If you join the ANBU, you'll be put into more serious situations than you've ever faced before. Our black ops squad is no joke—they will _grind you down. _You're such a nice guy to be doing the dirty work they do!"

Haku nodded slowly, his now-dry hair falling loosely over his shoulders. For a wild second, Naruto could actually believe that he was a girl. "I have killed more than I have spared," he said, almost inaudibly. "So many people have died by my hand over the years… and I am not proud of it. But now, at least… maybe I'll have something to fight for other than myself, or Zabuza-sama." He looked defiantly at his host. "When my master died," he continued, "I lost purpose! I lost direction! I am in a land that I know absolutely nothing of, and so few here know me! I can start again, with a clean slate! Let me do this, Naruto!"

The blond sat down across from him slowly, carefully wording his next sentence. "I cannot stop you from doing this," he said, "if it is truly what you want. I brought you here because I knew that you had nothing else. I don't expect anything from you, nothing at all. All I want is for you to be happy. But you have to understand, happy is not something that you'll find much of in the ANBU. But… if you think that you can do this without falling into the darkness, then I will not stop you."

The ice user exhaled deeply. "Thank you, Naruto-kun," he said.

"But," Naruto said, holding up a finger, "I have one more thing to say: If at any time you feel that you cannot continue there, that they put you in too hard a position, you leave. You quit. ANBU isn't a life term—you are free to leave at any time, except in the middle of an assignment. I need you to promise me this if I'm gonna sleep tonight."

Haku considered Naruto's words. "I… I can promise that if they ask me to do something that goes against my morals, I will refuse," he said after a moment of thought. "But I will do my job to the best of my ability."

Naruto smiled slightly. "Deal," he said, holding his hand out across the table. Haku took it, and with two quick pumps, shook hands, solidifying the agreement. "Now that that's settled… not dying took a lot outta me. Who's up for some ramen?"

Hinata groaned. "Naruto, honey, I love you, and I love it when you cook and take me out to eat. But if I have one more serving of ramen this month, I promise you that what Haku did to you with his needles will look _insignificant _in comparison. Understand?"

Naruto gulped. He was a fast healer… but he knew that Hinata could cut him up viciously enough, quick enough, where his preternatural skills wouldn't count for squat. "Um… Yeah, I understand," he said nervously. "How about barbeque?"

Hinata smiled. "That sounds a lot better," she said. "Your treat, of course."

"Of course. You in, Haku?"

The long-haired youth nodded. "I could eat," he said. "It takes a lot more out of me to fight while _not _killing someone than it does when I want them dead. And believe me, Naruto-san… it is extremely difficult to not kill you." He stood up and walked from the kitchen to the stairs and disappeared to the second level of the house.

Naruto looked confusedly at Haku. "Did he just insult me?" he asked.

She giggled. "I'm not entirely sure," she said. "But I can't help but agree with him. It _does _take a lot of energy to not kill you sometimes."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Gods," he mumbled. "Why do I do this to myself?"

"Because you're a knucklehead," Hinata said. "A sweet, well-intentioned, lovable knucklehead. But still a knucklehead." She came to his side and kissed him on the forehead, just above and between his eyebrows. "And I wouldn't have it any other way."

* * *

Naruto lay in the dark, Hinata by his side. Though both were nude under the sheets, sex had not been their activity that night—instead, after eating some barbeque, they went to see a movie, something about a princess and her retainers, mock shinobi with _rainbow _chakra.

Naruto snorted at the memory. _Rainbow chakra? _he asked himself. _Seriously? _He stopped this line of thought… at last count, he possessed what he called "blue" chakra, "red" demonic chakra, and "violet" chakra from Sando, which he hadn't even begun to master yet. Perhaps _rainbow _chakra, in of itself, wasn't _too _ridiculous an idea.

It had been a good movie, without a doubt; lots of action, excellent special effects, and a cast that fell into their roles so convincingly that for a few moments, Naruto had forgotten that he was watching nothing more than a film.

After they were finished at the theater, they headed home; it was, at this point, almost midnight, and the village was more or less winding down. All but the seediest of businesses were closing for the night—essentially, if there wasn't a naked woman of some variety of profession inside, owners were telling patrons to get the hell out.

The three were all laughing as they walked down the street, Hinata and Naruto arm in arm, Haku slightly ahead of them. For a while, they could pretend that they were normal… _kids. _

_Kids. _It sounded weird to put that term to people like him, even at their age. They'd done things, been places, and seen crazy shit that nobody their age should ever have to. But they'd each been born into a situation that none had a choice in, and had to deal however possible.

This was why it was important for them to go out, eat some barbeque, watch a movie, and laugh their asses off every once in a while. This was why Naruto had set Haku up on a date with the pretty girl at the fruit cart. Without something to distract you from the simple fact that you were a soldier fighting an almost endless war, insanity itself was the only other rout.

Now that he thought about it… that would explain why Kakashi was always reading that smut… the _Icha Icha _series, written by Jiraiya, the Toad Sage.

_Jiraiya. _Now, _there _was something interesting to think about. While on the road, heading back from Wave, Naruto would meditate and communicate with Sando at night. He'd entered the library Sando had created for him, formed dozens and dozens of kage bunshin, and had them go to town on some of his father's most critical memories and powerful techniques.

What he'd learned in the space of that week was _staggering. _Besides the info on the Black Files, he'd learned a lot about seals, chakra manipulation (a real big problem for him, even though he'd mastered water walking a long time ago) ninjutsu (which he excelled at, especially with enormously energy-draining requirements) and genjutsu (which he royally sucked at).

Even with all of that, there were still things that he just couldn't believe. That his father had been the student of the famed Toad Sage of the Sannin, he'd known. But the fact that they were so close that he'd been made his _godfather… _and then almost immediately left the village… that was a disappointment that Naruto could not forgive. When, if he ever met the older man, he knew exactly what he'd do to the legendary pervert.

He sighed, letting that train of thought roll away. With a beautiful, completely naked woman next to him, there was no way he was gonna let thoughts of revenge screw with him. Something more pleasant… something more pleasant…

Well, though not exactly more pleasant, his thoughts turned once again to his father. Now that he'd had a greater understanding of the man, he could easily realized just why he'd been made Hokage at such a young age. It wasn't just his jutsu knowledge, or his nearly-tailed beast level of chakra. Hell, his Hiraishin, though impressive, didn't even compare to his most admirable quality.

Essentially… he'd inherited the job because in a village full of good men, he was one of the nicest, most caring, most generous, and most protective men of all.

It wasn't that he'd been strong, strong to the point of attaining a godlike reputation in the village and was himself compared to the great demons in foreign lands. It wasn't that he'd wiped out whole battalions of enemy shinobi in mere seconds.

He'd just been a really, really nice guy who happened to have the skills to kill anyone else in the world who would fuck with his country.

_Dad… could I really be like you one day? Could I be a hero, like that kid Inari thinks I am? I'm just… never sure. _He sighed as he closed his eyes. There was a lot he could learn from going through his father's memories, but he knew that they wouldn't tell the whole story. If he wanted a more unbiased opinion, he'd have to do something that he would regret.

* * *

"Excuse me?" Naruto asked at one of the administrative desks in the Hokage's office. "I'm looking for Hatake Kakashi, but he's not home right now. I was wondering if he was sent on a mission or something. Could you help me out?"

The Chuunin busy at paperwork looked up. She was a pretty girl, maybe fifteen or sixteen, in standard Konoha shinobi gear, with her bandanna-style headband tied to the side in a fashion that was becoming increasingly popular with the younger generation of ninja. "What's your name?" she asked, her jaws smacking on bubblegum.

Naruto sighed. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, of Team Seven. Kakashi's my sensei, and it's pretty important that I speak to him. If he's on a mission, I can buzz off and wait till he gets back. If he isn't I'll wait here till he comes in, because if he's not with us, he's out there somewhere."

She looked up lazily as she popped a bubble. "Uzumaki? Yeah, I can check for ya. Hold on a sec." She stood up and put her hands in her pocket as she walked over to the mission registration desk. She bent down stiffly to talk to the Chuunin in charge. He glanced over at Naruto, whispered something into her ear after consulting a scroll. She sauntered over to Naruto and plopped back down in the seat.

"Your sensei isn't available right now," she said. "He's gone to Grass to ensure that they're still gonna participate in the Chuunin exams this time around. After that it's Waterfall, then Rain. Basically, he's covering the entire western half of our alliance with Mitarashi Anko. They're not really expected to return for two or three weeks."

Naruto frowned. "Shit," he mumbled. "When did he leave?"

She popped another bubble. "Just yesterday," she replied lazily. "Sorry, kid."

Naruto sighed. "Thanks, anyway…"

She held out a hand. "I'm Takeshi Ryuubi," she said. Naruto couldn't help but notice that her given name rhymed with _kyuubi. _"Yeah, I know," she said, instantly catching onto where Naruto's mind was going. "It rhymes, but there's no connection. Just a really weird coincidence an ancestor had."

Naruto took her hand and pumped it. She was slightly larger than him, being older, but she still had an impressive grip. "Got it," he said with a grin. "Believe me, I won't be making a big deal outta it."

She smiled. "Good." She let go of Naruto's hand and sat back down at her desk. "Now get the hell outta here, kid. I've got work to do."

Naruto looked down at her desk. Underneath unfurled scrolls, he could see the corner of a girl's magazine poking out… and it didn't look like it was safe for a workplace. He grinned, looking her in the eye.

She caught his gaze evenly. "Son of the Yondaime or not," she said with a venomous smile, "I will hang you up by your feet on the Monument and paint you pink if you say one word about my 'extracurriculars.'"

Naruto laughed softly. "It's all good," he said. "I mean, c'mon… you ever see those books Kakashi-sensei is always carrying around?"

Ryuubi smiled as she positioned her magazine more discreetly under the scrolls. "Yeah, actually. He gives em to me when he's done with 'em."

Naruto looked at her in shock. This was one seriously odd girl! He smiled awkwardly. "Well… I'm outta here, then. I've gotta get some lunch in me, or my stomach with eat itself."

Ryuubi smirked. "A'ight," she said. "Get on outta here. Oh, hey kid—" She leaned forward and whispered in a conspirators tone. "If you ever want one of the really, _really _juicy missions—I'm talking high-pay, thriller shit—let me know. I can hook you up. I'm not called 'Adrenalin Takeshi' for nothing, ya know!"

Naruto smiled. For her idiosyncrasies, she was a pretty cool girl. "Got it," he said. He flipped his hand up in a departure. "Later."

"Later, kid," she said, already returning to her magazine with a smile.

Naruto made a beeline for the only place he wanted to eat just then—his old and current standby comfort food place, the Ichiraku Ramen stand. He knew that Hinata would kill him if she knew that he was eating here, but what she didn't know…

A chilling thought came to him: her Byakugan's range was extremely impressive. At the moment, he was well within her line of sight. If she activated it while he was here, she would almost certainly see him.

He gulped. He could smell the miso and pork from fifty feet away, _upwind. _The gods were so, so cruel. He had to risk Hinata's wrath. He had no choice.

He _needed _the brothy noodles. No matter the cost.

He closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, then set off to the stand.

It was unusually crowded at the Ichiraku that afternoon. Besides the people sitting in the seats, almost twenty people waited in line to get carryout noodles. Old man Inuzuka and Ayame were looking panicked as she took orders and called them back to her father, who struggled to prepare, cook, and dish out all these separate tickets. "TWO PORK RAMEN AND ONE MISO!" he bellowed over his shoulder, ladling three servings into cardboard boxes and handing them quickly to his daughter, who in turn handed them to a man and took his money in one swift movement and made change from her purse. "Thankyouhaveaniceday" she said to him, then quickly forgot about him as she focused on the next man in line.

"Hey, old man!" Naruto shouted over the hubbub. "You're getting pretty swamped over there, huh?"

Ichiraku looked over his shoulder at Naruto. "You know it!" he called. "I don't know what the hell is up with business, but I'm not complaining!"

Naruto grinned. "You want some help back there? You look like you're in trouble!"

Ichiraku paused for just a second. "You ever make _real _ramen before, not the dried stuff?" he asked.

Naruto's head bobbed up and down. "A master chef taught me how," he said.

Ichiraku didn't question the boy's statement. "Then get your scrawny ass back here and make me some noodles! I don't have all day!"

Naruto whooped with joy. This was going to be freaking awesome!

* * *

Naruto sat slumped on one of the bar stools in front of the stand. It was nearly four o'clock in the afternoon, and business had _just _died down to the point where he wasn't needed. Whatever it was that brought the extra flow of people hadn't let up for nearly three hours, and that entire time had been spent helping Ichiraku in the back, making the noodles themselves, preparing them for cooking, and helping get the various broths and toppings cooked and ready to go.

The worst part of the whole thing was that he couldn't make a clone to help out. There had hardly been enough room back there for three people; just a single clone would throw the entire process into chaos, and to have one do all the work for him just seemed like… _cheating._

Unfortunately for Naruto, he hadn't had a chance to get any lunch for himself in all that time. He pressed on through his hunger (which wasn't _extremely _strong) and got the peoples', men and women and children of all ages, food out in time.

_Clunk. _Naruto's head had been on the countertop, but the sound jarred him from his exhaustion. Working the kitchen back there had been surprisingly draining, even for the stamina freak. "Here ya go, Naruto," Ichiraku said as he slid the bowl over to the boy. "Eat up. You earned this. Thanks to you, I pulled in nearly six hundred more ryo than usual today!"

Naruto raised his head lazily and held up two fingers. "Two… two more… then I'll be a normal human again."

Ichiraku laughed. "I already have them going, little buddy," he said.

Naruto smiled up at the man. "You are a… _god._"

The old man grinned. "The god of ramen, huh?" He rubbed his whiskery chin. "You know, I think I could live with that!"

The boy laughed as he dug into his bowl. The past few hours had been quite an experience for him.

Besides cooking, he got a first-hand look at what it was like to have a regular job, without all of the complications of being a shinobi. The repetitive motions of the knife, of the spoon, of simply walking a few feet to get an ingredient or spice or container quickly wore him down to the bone.

But… despite all of that, it was _totally _worth the look on people's faces when they saw the _jinchūriki _for the most fearsome of the Bijuu working in a _noodle hut. _Naruto laughed, gagging on the ramen only halfway down his throat.

A strong hand thumped him on the back, allowing him to swallow his food without further complication. He looked up, extremely surprised to see none other than the Hokage himself there. "Are you all right, Naruto-kun?" he asked, genuine concern in his expression.

Naruto scowled. "Yeah, I'm good," he said. "Don't worry about me."

Sarutobi laughed. "If you say so," he said, "but it wouldn't do your reputation any good to die by noodle."

Naruto just _had _to smile at the mental image. "Yeah, yeah," he said, waving his hand. He looked around; he and the old man were the only customers at the ramen place at the moment. He felt secure enough to address the village leader less formally than was protocol. "I thought," he said under his breath as he raised a long strand of ramen (probably made by him) to his mouth, "Hinata told you to not approach us for a while."

The old man looked at him with just the slightest smile twisting his lips. "Actually," he said, "I have been stuck in meetings since breakfast. I haven't had a single chance to eat today until now, and this is my favorite place for a quick snack." He held up a finger. "One pork ramen, extra broth, please." He turned back to his soldier. "I swear, Naruto, this is only a coincidence. Right now, I'm just an old geezer getting some grub."

Naruto laughed. "If you say so," he said as he finished up his first bowl, to be instantly replaced by his second in line. He grinned at the owner of the shop. "Thanks!"

Ichiraku smiled genially at the boy. "No problem. You earned it."

That caught the Hokage's attention. "Earned it?" he asked. "How did he do that?"

Ichiraku laughed uproariously. "You should have seen it!" he said. "Rush hour comes, there are way, _way _more people than usual, I'm sweating the small stuff, Ayame is taking orders left and right, and along comes Naruto who offers to help. Thanks to him, we got through it all, and made _big _bucks all the while.

"I tell ya," he continued, "if he ever decides that he doesn't wanna be a ninja anymore, I swear to the gods that I'll hire him full-time. He's worth his weight in gold."

The Hokage looked over at Naruto slyly while the boy concentrated on his noodles. "Well, Naruto," he said. "Sounds like you've had an interesting afternoon. So, do you want to be a noodle slinger?"

Naruto shook his head. "Nah," he said. "No offense, old man, but I can't see myself doing this except for fun right now."

Ichiraku grinned. "I get it," he said. "But if you ever wanna help again when we're swamped…"

"You can count me in!" Naruto crowed, making everyone present, including Sarutobi, laugh.

Ichiraku gave Sarutobi his bowl, then replaced Naruto's second with his third a moment later. For a time, they ate in silence… if not a comfortable silence, then one that wasn't as cold as it could have been.

Naruto glanced over at his boss. He wondered what could be going through the mind of a man with as much power and responsibility as he had. What did he have to deal with on a day-to-day basis? How much stress was he under? These were things he'd never know… and nor did he really want to know. The old man's mind was probably like a steel trap—inviting enough, but even trying to reach into it could cause you to lose an arm.

He sighed when his last bowl was completely empty, save for the dregs at the bottom. "Thanks, old man," he said as he stood up. "But I've gotta get home. Hinata must be getting worried about me."

"All right then," he said. "You take care, and give her my best, all right?"

Naruto nodded. "Will do."

Sarutobi had just finished his own meal. "Naruto," he said, stopping the boy in mid-stride, "do you mind if I walk with you?"

Naruto considered for a moment. After everything they'd been through… after all the problems and trouble they'd experienced over the past four months and two missions… he should just tell the older and wiser man to take a hike.

But then again… perhaps he had something worth saying.

"Not at all," Naruto said. "Are you going anywhere in particular?"

The Hokage shook his head. "Just away from _there", _he said, jerking his thumb at the office that sat under the Hokage Monument. "If they catch me again, it'll just be another long round of meetings. I think I can escape and hide for a while." He turned to the stall owner. "You'll cover for me if someone asks, won't you?"

Ichiraku grinned. "You got it," he said. "Your secret's safe with me."

Naruto laughed. "Come on," he said. "Let's go, then." He walked away, down the street that would take him to his house most quickly, the Hokage easily keeping in step.

Naruto remembered the last time that he'd walked these roads with the old man… that had been the day he'd shown Naruto to his new home. It seemed like so long ago, but he knew that it hadn't even been a month.

He decided to break the silence that had fallen between them. "So…" he said, "I can understand you sitting down with me and grabbing a bite. But I'm pretty sure Hinata would have a righteous _cow _if she knew I was talking to you."

The Hokage's hands were clasped behind his back as he looked down at Naruto with a grim smile. "That's the risk I have to take," he said. "I have something important to tell you, and I need you to pay attention. I promise you, I'm done playing with your life. I will hide nothing from you anymore. But you have to trust me with this, as utterly as you promised you would when I first gave you your assignment as Sanseirei."

Naruto looked around; there was nobody that he saw within ear-shot, though of course Sarutobi already knew this. "That'll be kinda hard," he muttered, "with everything you've put us through."

Sarutobi grunted. "I know," he said. "I don't expect it instantly. It may take a long while before I am back in you good graces. But after I say my peace… you might be more benevolent towards me."

The boy nodded. "Maybe… But let's wait till we're on my property, safe from prying ears. I don't feel secure out here at all."

The Hokage agreed. "In that case… let's pick up the pace slightly, shall we?"

Naruto smiled. "Sure," he said. "Just try to keep up."

Naruto was gone in a flash—but when his Shunshin brought him to a rooftop, Sarutobi was right there beside him. "You are going to have to do better than that," the old man said, chuckling.

Naruto disappeared again, and again, making his way toward his territory, but at every turn the Hokage was right there with him. Not that he thought that he could ever shake off the man with nearly sixty years of combat experience, but he was slightly irked at the ease in which he kept up.

Finally, they were at the boundary of his property, on the road that lead through the trees to his house. Naruto began calmly walking along it, with his lord a very slight distance behind as he followed the master of this potent ground. Once they were a hundred or so feet into the trees, Naruto turned to face Sarutobi. "Well… here we are," Naruto said. "What've you got to say?"

The man in question clasped his hands regally behind him. "I… Naruto, I would like to apologize for the way you have been treated these last months," he said. "Especially for the last time we spoke. You, of all people, didn't deserve it." He turned his head with a scowl. "I hated it, but it was necessary."

Naruto's mouth opened. "Necessary? Necessary to _lie _to us? To _me? _What could be worth all of that?"

The Sandaime turned his head back to Naruto. "If I told you," he said slowly, "that everything that you've done was for the best of the village, that you and your partners… but _especially_ you… were in the middle of a power play that is currently taking place in the deepest levels of our village's military and political structure… would you believe me?"

Naruto clasped his hands behind his head. "My first instinct would be to say 'bullshit,'" he said. "But I think I'll hear you out."

Sarutobi's hat tipped in a shallow nod. "Thank you. Naruto… long ago, when you were born, there was a faction that wanted to take you and make you into a tool of destruction. This was an extremely small minority in the power structure of the village, but they have much clout in the right places. I fear, though, that there is another power in the village that I do not know about. There have been suspicious stirrings in the council, and all indications are that something is about to happen… something big, and I have no idea when or how, what or who.

"If certain measures hadn't been taken, you would have grown up as nothing more than a pawn in someone else's game."

"Let me guess," Naruto said with a smirk. "It was that guy named Danzo, right?"

Sarutobi frowned. "How did you know?" he asked.

Naruto shrugged. "It's kinda obvious. While in the ANBU headquarters, I heard of this group called 'Root' or 'Foundation' that was supposed to be under the direct command of this Danzo. From what I have learned from my father's memories, he forced them to disband when he came into power. But when he died… they quickly regrouped. These guys aren't like you—they don't play nice."

Sarutobi chuckled darkly. "That may be an understatement. I have never been comfortable with their tactics. But even I must admit that much of what they do is for the greater good… as disgusting as what it is."

"What, exactly, is it they do?"

The Hokage looked sharply at Naruto. "They do the work that the rest of the shinobi under my command, including the regular ANBU, cannot. Not that they have superior skills, necessarily… but because they use their skills in ways that many would find detestable.

"Plausible deniability… that is the reason that Root is allowed to exist. Your father was somewhat idealistic—not that that is a bad thing, not at all. I believe that he was right to have them disband when he did. But nonetheless, in this day and age, we need them for… various purposes. And no, Naruto… you don't want to know what those are.

He took a deep breath. "But back to you… if he'd had his way, you would have become his weapon. Even he did not know the truth of your parentage. Had he truly known, he might have had you killed, out of spite as much as anything else. In any case, without the various protective elements I put around you from the day of your birth, many things might have gone wrong for you.

"Leap forward thirteen years. Here you are, grouped with the heirs of the Uchiha and Hyuuga clans. The three of you form a nexus of intrigue that is unusual, even for this village. Even taking the masks you possess out of the equation, you all stand to gain enormous power in the coming years. You, Naruto, should you keep up in your training, could very well surpass Kakashi in skill inside of three or four. Not too far after that… and you will surpass me."

Naruto's jaw dropped. Surpass the Hokage in strength? "I don't think that'll happen!" he said. "In case you didn't know, sir, you are practically a _god_ in our world. Do you really think I can surpass _you?_"

Sarutobi smiled. "I do," he said, chuckling. "Want to know the truth, Naruto? And you really cannot tell anybody this."

Naruto nodded.

"I," he almost whispered, "was the weakest out of my team's cell when we got put under the tutelage of the Shodaime and Nidaime Hokages. You, right now, are stronger than I was at your age. I fully believe that if you progress at the rate that you are, you could very well become Hokage one day."

The boy snorted. "Me? Become Hokage? Do you really think I stand a chance? The people of Konoha would never let me lead them!"

Sarutobi cocked an eye. "Don't be too sure," he said. "People can change in five or six years or so. Compare yourself six months ago to the you today. Are you the same?"

Naruto frowned. He thought about it for a minute. Since graduation, he'd done so many things, and seen so many places and people. He was no average Genin. He'd fought Jounin, trained with a demon, sucked the very _soul _from a man, saw a friend get sawed in half…

But there were good things too. He'd become closer friends with Sasuke, and now considered him as something like a brother. He was in love with Hinata, the most wonderful girl in the world. He'd helped save a country from a tyrant, and took an extremely powerful boy who could absolutely _trounce _him and given him a home.

"No," Naruto said. "I'm not the same."

"I didn't think so," Sarutobi said. "So, trust me; I've seen this village change its collective mind dozens of times over the years. It will reconsider you, too. It's already happening. In a few years, they will love you. You'll be their savior.

"Naruto… I don't have too much time left. I have to plan long-term for the safety of the village. I've already decided, and please, hear me out: in five years, when I retire, I would like for you to take my place as Hokage of the village of Konoha."

To say that Naruto was stunned would be an understatement. "You… you're kidding," he said. "You have _got _to be kidding!" He threw his hands into the air. "You want me to be the _Hokage _when you step down? Are you kidding? Are you _mental?"_

The old man laughed. "No, I don't think that I am… mental. I've thought long and hard about it, and it does make some perfect sense. You already have all of the knowledge and experience of your father. When you access all of it, when you learn all of his techniques—including his crown jewel, the Hiraishin—you will have the power to protect the village and all of its peoples. I don't expect this to happen this year, or the next. But if I'm not killed before then, I will retire in five years. Naruto, I will announce you as my successor. And no… I don't want an answer right now. You have five years to give me your answer. I expect it then. That is all that I have to say at the moment." He turned to go, but stopped.

"Please tell Madam Hyuuga that I meant no offense to her the other day. I have nothing but admiration for her. Also… apologize to her on my behalf for my neglect of you. Everything she said was true. I wasn't there, and neither was Jiraiya, though please believe me when I say that he did what he could, in his own ways."

"I will," Naruto said. "But one more thing, sir," he said hesitantly.

"Yes?"

"I…" Naruto caught himself. "Never mind. It can wait."

Sarutobi nodded. "If you wish," he said. "Good evening, Naruto. Oh, by the way… if you could continue to act angry with me, we might be able to draw out the elements in the village that mean it ill. If you act discontent, they may attempt to approach you. If someone does, let me know through roundabout means, if possible."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Naruto said. "You got it… old man."

Sarutobi chuckled. "That I am," he laughed. "Goodbye, Naruto. Have a pleasant evening."

"I will," Naruto promised, then turned his back on his leader to go home. After a moment, Sarutobi turned to go back the way they'd come.

Naruto's brain almost hurt as he processed everything he'd been told. _Things are gonna get really, really complicated soon,_ he thought. _Me, Hokage? Eh… at least I have a while to think about it._

_I have five years to prove myself. I'd better get to work. First stop… Kyuubi. Next… the world!

* * *

_

Holy hot damn. I bet none of you saw any of that coming, did you?

The plot twists like a roller coaster here, folks. I decided that, with all of the put-downs Naruto's gotten lately, he needed something to boost him up. This seemed like the perfect motivation to me… perhaps to get him back in the good graces of Naruto. Whether it works or not, that is anybody's guess.

Some of you probably picked up the not-so-subtle clues near the beginning of the chapter where this story could eventually go. Ya know… this is either a Chekov's Gun of the worst kind, or I just like screwing with my fan base. You decide.

I'm outta time here, folks. Ya'll take care. Watch out for the zombies. For those of you lucky enough to have brains… you be extra cautious.

dead witch


	25. Departure

A/N: Yay! I'm back! Woo! Actually, I'm really happy right now. I've had a pretty good week so far, and I can't wait to get it over with.

Chapter 25 is here, finally. I know it hasn't been even a week yet, but time really flies.

I quit smoking about five days ago, pretty much cold turkey. I had one after lunch, then decided that it would be my last one. Since then, I've been doing good—I've been tempted, but I have yet to fall to the dark side. Wish me luck.

I'm gonna try to be making some AMVs on Youtube… does anyone have a song that they think would be good for a compiled fight scene?

Um… Yeah, that's about it for right now. Read on and review.

* * *

"He said _what?" _Hinata yelled at Naruto after he told her of his conversation with Sarutobi.

Naruto held up his hands in an attempt to placate her. "Hold on!" he said hastily. "It's not like—"

"Not like he's trying to manipulate you, _again?" _she suggested. "Gods, Naruto! He's doing it to you again and you barely even realize it!" She crossed her arms. "This is how he works! He tells us just enough, then twists our situation to suit his own agenda!"

"It's not like that!" Naruto defended. "He told me why he did all of that in the first place! He needed us to be in position for something else! It's not all about us, Hinata! I don't know everything, but it seems like he has a legit reason for pushing us around like he has!" He took a short step toward her. "He said that someone in the village is doing something—making a move, not just against him, but against the village as a whole. Hinata… I think that's what we're here for. Why we exist."

She flopped down onto the couch. He'd met her in the living room of the house, and in hushed tones summarized his talk with the Hokage. When he finished, there had been a cold silence, quickly broken by her loud yell. Had Haku been in the house, he'd have come running to see what had caused the commotion. Fortunately, he was not; he'd been kicked out by Hinata who'd told him not to come back until he had talked to the girl Naruto had set him up on a date with to hash out the details, if he could find her.

"You heard what he thinks we exist for!" Hinata said. "According to him, we're just his pawns! Naruto, do you know what pawns are for? The player sacrifices pawns to insure victory. What happens when we get sacrificed?"

Naruto winced. "It's not quite like that," he said. "We aren't just pawns, Hinata. Yes, we've been maneuvered, but I don't think that he wants to hurt us. He's smart enough to know that we'd figure this out eventually. Is it really so hard to believe that maybe—just _maybe_—we're doing something good for a change?"

"Even if that's all true," Hinata said, "it doesn't make it right!"

Naruto shook his head. "No, it doesn't. We're right to be angry at him. But he has a job to do, Hinata… and so do we."

Hinata screwed her face into a scowl. "Well, I don't like it!" she said in a tone normally reserved for someone much younger than her.

"Neither do I!" said Naruto. "But it's too late to do anything about any of this now! What can we do? If we do anything rash, we could foul up his whole plan! Hinata, the safety of the entire village could ride on all of this!"

The Hyuuga frowned. "Maybe…" she said. "But we need to know more. Naruto, we can't be allowed to be forced into the dark like this. From now on, we need to tell Sarutobi-sama that he has to tell us _everything._"

"I know," he said. "But… I haven't told you the whole story, not yet."

A wary look came to Hinata. "_Whole _story?" she asked slowly. "What else can there be?"

Naruto knew that this part might be a little bit tricky. "Well… The thing is… he kinda asked me to be… the Hokage…"

Hinata's stunned silence belied the shock she felt. Naruto braced himself for the onslaught he was sure to come… but when he opened his eyes, there she was, silent as the grave, her mouth opened in shock. "You… the Hokage?" she said, finally, softly. "Either he's… a sadistic _bastard… _or he really does believe in you."

He felt a wave of relief fall through him. He had fully expected her to go ballistic, but instead, she seemed to be seriously pondering his words. "I think it's the latter," he quickly said, eager to steer her beliefs more towards the positive instead of focusing on the negative. "I really do think that he believes that I can become Hokage, or at least be accepted by the village, inside of five years. He believes in me, Hinata! He really does!"

Hinata covered her eyes with a hand. "Naruto… is this really so important to you?" she asked. "His acceptance of you, I mean?"

Naruto stared at her. "I… I thought that you would understand," he said softly. "You, of all people. More than Sasuke—more than anyone I know." He sat down hard in the chair opposite the couch she was in and stared her in the eyes. "Since all of this began," he continued, "both of our lives have changed dramatically. Me, people used to think that I was a monster. And, you know what? If it hadn't been for you, for Sasuke, for _everyone _who's helped me out these past four months, I very well could have been a monster. No, scratch that—I would have. I _know _it. I am who and what I am because of the people I know—the fact that everyone believes in me means more to me than everything, except for your love for me, Hinata.

"But, think about this: what would you be if you hadn't become one of the Sanseirei with Sasuke and I? Do you think that you'd be the same person that you are now?"

Hinata frowned. "That's not the same thing," she said. "I don't see how—"

"But it is the same, Hinata! It's the very same thing!" He stood up suddenly. "You are who you are because the confidence you have comes from the very people you know! With Sasuke, you have a brother! With me… you have love. But what would you be now if fate hadn't thrown the dice and put us together? You know as well as I do that you would be exactly the same as you were in the Academy!"

"Do you seriously think that?" Hinata almost shouted. "Do you think that—that I'm so dependent on you, that I can't live without you? I'll have you know, Uzumaki Naruto, that I am not! Yes, I love you! I love you with all of my heart! You know that by now! But I am not, I repeat, I am _not _dependent on you! I'll admit, in the beginning, I was fragile. I needed you to prop me up. But now, I'm strong enough to stand on my own, damn it!" She stood up, face to face with Naruto, and stomped a foot. "I am my own person, and that's the whole truth!"

Naruto looked at her calmly, but with a fire in his eyes. "I know," he said quietly. "I know, all of it. You have no idea how proud I am of you, Hinata. You have changed so much, it is mind-boggling. But the truth is… you're stronger than I am. Much, _much _stronger. Maybe you don't know… maybe I'm that good an actor. But you have no idea just how weak I am without you." He turned his head to the side, away from her. "When you aren't around… I start to go down the path of darkness. It sounds… cliché. But the part of my personality that was growing stronger and stronger months ago, the part that didn't mind the bloodshed and the brutality so much… it comes back, slowly but surely." He cast his eyes toward hers with turning his head. "I need you, Hinata. I swear I do. More than you need me. I know how selfish I am, and I'm ashamed of it. I want to keep you around me forever and ever, even the thought of leaving you hurts.

"I know it was my idea to leave for a while on the training mission to master the Kyuubi's chakra. But… that's not all. Hinata, I have to know… I have to know whether I can master myself as well. I think that it's because of you that I was able to survive the full surge of chakra from the fox, back on the bridge." He paused for a moment. "But I know that, as painful as it sounds… you might not always be there for me. I might have to leave, or you…" He couldn't verbalize the next thought in his head, so he decided to skip it. There was no way to vocalize her potential demise without his voice cracking. "I mean, I have to know if I can suppress my own bloodlust should I have to."

Hinata sighed. "You really are an idiot," she muttered. "Naruto…" she approached him, slowly, as if to embrace him. He held out his arms, hesitantly but expectedly. When she got close, instead of hugging him… she slugged him as hard as she could, without chakra reinforcing her blow, in the gut.

Naruto wasn't prepared for it at all. His eyes went wide as his breath left his lungs in a huge wheeze. He fell to the floor and landed on his knees before Hinata, who grabbed his shoulders to prevent him from falling to his side or back.

Naruto struggled to draw a breath for a few moments. When he was at last able to do so, he rasped, "W-what was… _that _for?"

Hinata slowly got down on her knees until they were nearly nose to nose. "That," she explained, "was for not having enough trust in me." She wrapped her arms around his damaged torso and pulled him close, his hands formerly pressed against his stomach automatically wrapping around her back. "Naruto… I knew that you loved me. I always did. I never doubted it for a second. I know that you need me." She pulled back to look him in the eye. "But if you think, for one moment, that I'm going to let you leave me behind, you have another thing coming."

Naruto was confused. "What—what do you mean?" he asked Hinata.

She frowned. "Have you forgotten already? You seriously planned to leave me behind when you go on your little trip, didn't you?" She snorted. "That's not going to happen, Naruto."

"But—"

"No buts! Naruto, you have to trust me! I've been thinking a lot about what we talked about the other day… and I know that you decided that you would go off by yourself, but you know what? That's not happening. I know you love me, but sometimes I don't know how much you trust me! By the time you—_we—_leave, I'll have learned everything that Aoiryu can teach me about suppressing Bijuu chakra. I swear, I will be in no danger. But you? You could be a danger to yourself. What will happen if you lose control? What will you do, then? If that happens, people could get hurt. The way I see it, I'm the only chance you have of doing this right."

Naruto looked at her with new respect… and, perhaps, fear, in his eyes. "Are you sure?" he asked softly. "I mean, are you absolutely, one hundred percent positive that you can do this?"

Hinata glared at him sharply enough to cut. "Are you doubting me?" she asked acidly. "I said I can do this, and by the gods I can do this! So put a sock in it, Naruto! Don't you ever doubt me again! By the time we're through, you will have figured this whole thing out, and you'll have me to thank! So, with all due respect, Naruto—quit whining like a girl, man up, and grow a pair of freaking balls!"

Naruto looked at her, stunned. He knew that she'd grown much more confident over the past four months… but when did she begin to act like this? He smiled slowly, though, as he gazed into her eyes.

She frowned. "What?" she asked.

Naruto smirked. "You have no idea just how sexy you are right now," he said. "All joking aside… seriously. Very, very sexy."

Hinata palmed him in the chest, knocking him backwards. "Are you kidding me?" she asked as she hopped on top of him, pinning his arms beside his head as she straddled his torso in a mount. "Is that all you can think of at a time like this?"

Naruto shook his head on the floor. "No," he said. "It isn't. But it's one of the main things. I never lose sight of how beautiful I think you are. Seriously, you're almost as beautiful as you are strong, both inside and out.

"Knowing exactly who and what I am… not too many people would talk to me like that. You know what? Maybe I do need you when I leave. Like you told Haku—you can kick my ass. That's what I'll need if things get hairy, a good ass-kicking."

Hinata growled. "As if you don't need one right now?" she nearly barked.

Naruto smiled up at her. "Are you asking… or telling?"

She closed her eyes for a few moments… the opened them with a kind of manic expression. "You'd better stand by those words," she said quietly. "They're about to get you the roughest treatment of you young life."

Naruto shivered with both terror and anticipation. He _loved _it when Hinata got rough.

* * *

Naruto lay in bed, spread-eagle, gasping for breath. He didn't know where Hinata had gotten all of her energy, but she'd pushed his own impressive stamina to the limit. Sweat covered his body as he inhaled and exhaled deeply, forcing breath in and out of his lungs. It was times like these that he really, really pushed his limits, and could see just how far he could go.

Hinata lay beside him, similarly exhausted. She lay on her side, a contented smile on her lips as her breasts swelled and contracted with her breathing. A sheen glistened on her brow as she lay there panting. Naruto's dopey grin matched hers as they locked eyes. "So," he panted. "Do you… think… I've been… punished enough?"

Hinata smiled as she propped herself up on her left elbow and looked down at her lover. The sheet that had been covering her slipped to her waist, revealing her heaving breasts as she tried to catch her breath after the rather vigorous workout they'd undergone. "For now," she gasped, high on adrenalin and endorphins. "But if you keep making me mad like you have… I'll have no choice but to make… your life… a living hell."

Naruto grinned at the prospect. If feeling this good meant being bad… Gods, he'd be as bad as he could be to feel as good as he could be.

"Is that… a promise?" Naruto huffed, smiling.

Hinata grinned as she rolled over onto Naruto, smothering his chest with her own. Naruto felt almost literal sparks fly between them as their naked skin made contact. In fact, by pure chance, their nipples had joined together, his brown under her dark red. Her damp hair fell onto his cheeks as she looked down on him. "You bet your ass," she said with a grin.

Naruto smirked as he reached around her and grabbed her derriere and gave a good, solid squeeze. She squeaked slightly at the unexpected pressure on her behind. "Deal," he said, laughing. "Let me know when I get outta line again."

She smiled and pressed her lips against his in a deep, long, and slow kiss. "You know I will," she whispered in a sultry tone. "But, seriously, Naruto—if you every try that sappy crap with me when I'm trying to be angry again, I will _seriously _kick your ass. And no—that isn't innuendo for anything."

Naruto grinned. "Got it," he said. "From here on in, I watch my mouth, or my life is on the line."

Hinata laughed. "Your life is always on the line with me," she said with a smile. "But at least now, you've been warned."

"Mmm-hmm…" Naruto sighed contentedly as Hinata rolled off of him, but snuggled in close. "I can live with that."

Hinata nestled her head into the crook of Naruto's shoulder. "That's the idea," she murmured softly as she gently fell asleep, with Naruto, her lover, following closely behind her.

* * *

"So," Haku said at the kitchen table the next morning as he spooned a spoonful of cereal into his mouth. "Let me get this straight—in just a few days, you've managed to come home to a village that doesn't hate you anymore, Naruto, outrage your Hokage, get rumors spread all around about how you threatened to kill Hinata's father, have everyone here learn that your own father was the _former _Hokage, and learn that you are in the middle of a conspiracy to weed out some dangerous elements of your village. Is that about right?"

Naruto shrugged as he ate his own cereal. "That's pretty much it," he answered.

Haku sighed as he finished his short meal. "Is there anything that I'm missing?" he asked.

Naruto actually had to consider that for a second. "Well… I'm going to be leaving to master the power of an unfathomable beast of nature, and hope to harness every iota of chakra he has in as short a time as possible without destroying a small country's worth of property… but, yeah, besides that, you got everything."

The older boy frowned. "Are things always this boring around here?" he asked Hinata.

She simply smiled. "Oh, no," she said. "Usually there's someone who's trying to kill us, too. That, or we have to just barely skirt an international incident… You know, the dull stuff."

Naruto snorted, while Haku just smiled. "Dull stuff, indeed," Naruto said. "Speaking of which… Haku, how did your meeting with that girl go last night?"

The boy in question raised an eyebrow. He'd returned while the two of them were… particularly _vigorous _in their bedroom. As awkward as that was, he knew that he'd eventually get used to living with friends who were also lovers. "It went well enough," Haku said. "Though it was… a little bit discomforting, initially."

"Discomforting?" Hinata asked. "What do you mean?"

Haku blushed. "Well… moments after I saw her, her father came by to collect her and the fruit cart. Mari told him that we were going to be going on a date tonight… and he is—he is fairly intimidating."

Naruto laughed. "Haku, you're a shinobi who trained with the famed 'Demon of the Bloody Mist.' What could possibly intimidate _you?_"

Haku looked at his friend. "The man is over seven feet tall," he explained clearly, "weighs over three times what I do, if not significantly more, and I can tell that he used to be a shinobi before he retired. He is only about forty-five or so, and not even close to past his prime as far as his skills go. Naruto… I am a pretty good judge of talent, from simple observation." Haku's tone was deadly serious. "This man is easily Jounin level in talent, if not higher than that. He… Naruto, if I make Mari mad, he could _kill me!_"

Naruto burst out laughing. "It's not funny!" Haku protested weakly.

"The hell it's not!" Naruto chortled. "Oh, come on! That's just about how every young kid in this village feels when he takes a girl out on a date when her dad—hell, even her mom—is a ninja. Seriously, Haku, it's normal to be nervous at first. Trust me, I know." He glanced over at Hinata quickly. "But ya gotta trust me, my friend; you'll get over it."

"But—"

"Oh, come on, Haku!" Hinata said. "Unless you threaten Mari, it's not like the guy's gonna kill you or anything! Just have a little faith in yourself!"

The ice ninja didn't seem as confident as Naruto thought he should. "It is easy for you to say," Haku grumbled. "You don't have to go through the difficulties of dating anymore… you already have your soul mate. I am a stranger in a strange land. It's not quite the same for me."

Naruto sighed. "Just relax, Haku!" he said. "What are you two doing tonight, anyway?"

Haku shrugged. "I am taking her out to dinner at a sushi bar," he said. "Then, we're going to go for a walk in the park. I believe there is a small stream that runs through there; we are going to follow it for a time. Then, I will escort her home, and hope that her father is not of a confrontational mindset."

Naruto grinned, but didn't say a word as he spooned more cereal into his mouth. "What?" Haku said, frowning.

Naruto turned to Hinata. "My dear," he said with a rueful grin. "Do you think it'll be this irritating if we have kids one of these days?"

Hinata laughed, both amused and slightly shocked at the suggestion. "Maybe just a little," she said, smiling at Haku. "Seriously, Haku! You need more confidence in yourself! It's about time you—you came out of the shell you built with Zabuza. For the most part, we're all just normal people. You really _can _afford to relax right now, you know."

He nodded. "I know," he said. "But habits are hard to break. I've spent so much of my life without much contact with others… I am still getting used to it."

Naruto clapped him on the shoulder. "We know, buddy," he told his friend. "And we're here for you. That's why we dragged you halfway across a country… to give you some time to clear your head." He smirked. "But while you're setting yourself straight… you might as well have some fun along the way, right?"

Hinata swung at the back of Naruto's head; unfortunately, he had predicted the strike and bent his head forward to dodge. Unfortunately… he had forgotten that his cereal was on the table in front of him, and got a face and nose full of milk and whole wheat.

Hinata and Haku burst out laughing at the bewildered expression on Naruto's face as he snorted creamy cold milk from his nose. "You know," he said once their mirth had died down, "if I was any less-tempered than I am, all of the weird and unfortunate things that happen to me on occasion would have made me snap a long, long time ago."

Hinata smiled as she handed him a towel to mop his face off with. "Well, lucky us," she said as he dabbed milk out of his now-somewhat long hair. "If you weren't such a klutz, we would have nothing to entertain us on a regular basis, now would we?"

Naruto looked at her and said in a deadpan tone, "Well, I am so, _so _glad I can make your day a little bit brighter."

She easily caught the towel as Naruto threw it at her. "That's what you're here for," she agreed.

* * *

Hinata and Naruto waited up for Haku to come back from his date, for a couple reason. Reason one, of course, was the excuse to tease their new friend mercilessly. Secondly, they genuinely hoped that it would go well. Depending on his state when he returned home, they would know how far down the road toward his acclimation to Konoha he was.

When he finally opened the front door to the house near midnight, Hinata and Naruto were almost immediately there, having spent their evening reading books that they had found in one of the spare bedrooms. The instant that they had heard the doorknob being turned, however, they abandoned their respective tomes and sprinted to the door so quickly it would look like to an outside observer that they had used ninjutsu.

Hinata, it seemed, was the more eager and intrusive of the duo as she began a barrage of questioning. "So? How did it go? Where did you go to eat? Was it nice? Was _she _nice? Did her father threaten to kill you? Did—"

"Hinata!" Naruto interrupted her with a laugh. "Calm down! Let the man speak!" He eyed Haku. "So… How did it go?"

Haku seemed to be in a state of mild shock. "It was… all right…" he said dazedly. "We ate… Then took a walk. Fish. We saw fish. Ate fish too. Was very nice."

Naruto glanced over at Hinata. "Is he ok?" he asked her.

Hinata didn't answer. She grabbed his face, pinching his cheeks together with her fingers and aiming it to square with hers. "Haku?" she said with sudden concern. "Are you ok?"

Haku looked at her, slightly unfocused. "I'm… ok…" he said dopily. "She just… Kissed me…" He smiled. "Was very nice…"

She frowned. "He shouldn't be this out of it from a simple kiss," said Hinata.

Naruto gently pulled her hand away from Haku's face. "Haku? Buddy?" he said. He snapped a couple fingers in front of Haku's nose. "Ok, if you're joking, this isn't funny. Even _I'm _getting a little worried about you."

Haku merely smiled as he walked forward, gently splitting and brushing Hinata and Naruto aside as he made his way to the stairs. They turned to watch the older boy walk, moving side to side, almost… _dancing?_

There was no doubt about it—Haku was _dancing _a one-man waltz as he crossed the open floor. With mouths agape Naruto and Hinata watched him dance across the floor, occasionally turning, twisting, and dipping an imaginary partner low to the floor to unheard music. The boy's natural grace transmuted well to the solo act, until he reached the base of the stairs and parted with the phantom in his head. With an elaborate bow to nobody in particular, he waved his hands in a flourish and said from the top of his lungs, "Thank you all, and good night!" He disappeared up the stairs, leaving a confused and bemused pair of Sanseirei staring at the spot he had just occupied.

After several long moments, Naruto spoke out slowly. "I think I know what's wrong with him," he said.

His lover turned to him. "What is it?" she asked.

Naruto shook his head. "The worst thing that can happen to a man. I think he fell head over heels in love."

* * *

"Are you sure about this?" Hinata asked Naruto nervously. They were standing in front of the door that contained the room in the basement with all of the weapons. Haku was with them, though he stood a distance away. This was his first time down in this part of the property, and he was looking just a little bit nervous.

"Pretty sure," he admitted. "Not quite one hundred percent… but close."

She frowned. "Close isn't enough to be risking my hide over, Naruto," she said.

"Listen," he said. "Sarutobi said that he could go in here with my dad. I don't see why you and Haku shouldn't be able to." He paused for a moment. "Just… don't touch anything until I've checked everything out, ok?"

Hinata nodded hesitantly. "I was here for the tour, remember? I know how dangerous it is in here."

"It's important for Haku to know, too," Naruto said. "Haku, listen: I can't enforce this enough—keep your hands to yourself, ok?"

Haku nodded, though he still seemed to be a bit hesitant. "Y-yes," he said, the slight stammer in his voice echoing off of the walls.

Naruto frowned. "Haku? Are you ok?"

Haku looked up sharply—he had been seemingly busy studying the floor. "I—yes, Naruto-san," he said, unusually formally.

"Really, now…" He examined Haku's face more closely. A fine sheen of sweat covered it, which was somewhat unusual, due to the relative coolness of the hall they stood in. "You look… tense."

Haku jerked slightly. "I am—I am not very fond of enclosed spaces," he said much more quickly than usual. "I do not like to be in small rooms without windows, or underground, or any place that I can't get outside in less than a few seconds."

Naruto nodded. "I understand," he said. "I don't much like being underwater… it's cloistering. You can go back upstairs if you want, there's nothing from this side stopping you."

Haku looked as if he was about to take Naruto up on his offer… then stopped short. He shook his head. "No, Naruto-san," he said resolutely. "I told you I would come with you… and I did. Will. I cannot let myself be… be hindered by this irrational fear forever."

The blond smiled. "Got it," he said. "You both ready?" Without waiting for a response, he placed his palm on the engraved seal on the door to the Arsenal. It glowed red for a second, then opened with a series of metallic clicks, sliding to the left and into the wall.

Naruto lead the group into the room. It was illuminated with stark white light, though a source of the light could not be found. Each wall was covered by rectangular panels of varying sizes. There was no true rhyme or reason to the arrangement on the walls—some of the panels were as much as three or four feet wide and high, while others looked just large enough to contain something with the dimensions of a large kunai, or a sword.

Naruto bent down slightly to peer at one of the smaller drawers. There was a small space in the middle for his thumb. With a shrug, he put his digit there, but was surprised when he felt a small prick stab at him. "Ow!" he said, pulling his hand away.

"It must require your blood to open up," Hinata observed as the drawer withdrew from the wall and revealed a large staff—no, a spear, half again as long as normal, with a metal blade that looked something like a kwan dao. A horse-hair tuft was tied to the base of the blade where it was joined with the wood, almost three feet long, and dyed a deep, dark crimson.

Naruto picked it up from the case as soon as it fully withdrew. "Huh," he said. It was much taller than him when he held it upright. It was an impressive weapon, for sure, but why was it in one of the most secure vaults in the village?

Haku pointed something out in the case. "Naruto?" he said. "There is something in there."

The blond peered inside to see a small scroll. He plucked it out and, with one hand, deftly unrolled it. It unrolled a couple feet to reveal writing.

"Well?" Hinata asked, somewhat impatiently. "What does it say?"

"It says," Naruto said as he read, "that this spear is a pretty old weapon, dating back to before the time of the Kage. While it doesn't possess much power on its own… if you run chakra through it, it loses all of its weight, while retaining full durability and destructive power. Also… wow. It's a multi-sectioned weapon, too. Interesting. Something like this would put a novice on par with an expert weapons user, wouldn't you think?"

Hinata frowned. "Maybe," she said. "But it seems kind of like cheating to me."

Naruto snorted as he replaced it and the scroll in its case. "Maybe," he said. "But I have two extra sources of chakra inside of me, on top of my own stockpile that is several times greater than average. Wouldn't some consider that cheating?"

"Oh, you know what I mean," she grumbled. "Anyway, there is no way we'll be able to look at all of these today!"

Naruto shook his head. "I don't plan on looking at _all _of them," he said. "I just want to find a couple weapons that my father remembered putting here. Two in particular, actually."

Hinata raised an eyebrow. "And those would be?" she asked.

Naruto grinned. "One," he said, "is a brother sword of the Kusanagi, one of the swords with the lesser demons of the Bijuu clans powers inside of them. From what I know, it is the sword known as the 'Kazejin.' He never used it, but apparently, these swords can only be properly used by those with the elemental affinities that reflect the nature of the weapons themselves. Dad was, as I have been told, most closely affiliated with earth and fire elements, though he was at least expert with them all. The fact is, this is one of the few weapons in this room that he could never use to its fullest, even if he had wanted to.

"I, however… one day, I want to master them all. I will surpass my father, and every one of my ancestors, both on his side, and my mother's. I will be stronger than any Hokage. I will be stronger than any of the Kyuubi's jinchūriki… including my mother." An almost manic glint came to his eye. "And I know just how I'll do it, too."

Hinata frowned slightly. "And… how will that be?" she asked.

Naruto turned his head to her and smiled. "With you right by my side? There's nothing I can't do!"

Hinata sighed and slapped Naruto on the back of his head. "Moron!" she shouted. "I thought you were about to say something really deep and significant!"

He rubbed the back of his head and smiled ruefully. "Oh, lighten up!" he said, laughing.

"In any case," Haku interrupted before they could get out of hand, "what is this second weapon, Naruto-san?"

Naruto turned his attention onto his boarder. "Oh, yes…" he said. "Almost forgot. It's another sword, though not one of the elementals. The steel of the blade is inscribed, oddly enough, with storage seals. Apparently, this sword can contain up to a hundred or so individual objects, but almost exclusively, right now, holds swords inside of it." He turned back to Hinata. "I know how much better you are than me in kenjutsu, Hinata. With this sword, you would have all of the blades that you would ever need. Do you want it?"

Hinata smiled. "Of course! This is perfect!" She hugged Naruto tightly, but seemed to remember their third wheel. "But… what about Haku?"

The blond paused. "You know," he said, "I honestly hadn't thought about that." He looked at his friend. "What do you say, Haku?" he asked. "Do you want a toy, too?"

Haku simply shook his head. "I have yet to master my own skills fully," he said. "And I am unversed in the use of weapons outside of kunai and senbon."

"But Zabuza was a swordsman!" Hinata protested, breaking away from her embrace with Naruto. "That was what he was famous for!"

Haku shook his head again. "That doesn't mean that he taught _me _kenjutsu," he said. "He recognized that I had my own set of skills, and he respected that from the time I was young. Down the line, should I feel like it, I will find someone to teach me the proper use of the sword… until then, I will continue to master the Kekkei Genkai inside my blood."

Naruto held up a hand. "Hey, whatever works for you," he said. "But my house is you house. If you ever feel like branching out, let me know. From what Sarutobi told me, there are enough powerful weapons here to take over Konoha, if I put them in the right hands. That is some pretty scary firepower."

"Should I have need of it," Haku promised, "I shall let you know."

Naruto nodded. "Good. Now…" He crossed his hands in a sign. Several clones of his popped into existence around him. "All right, you guys!" he said to his copies. "We have some swords to find! Get to it!"

The Kage Bunshin nodded and immediately went to the walls, sticking their thumbs to the panels there, letting themselves get stuck and blooded, and examined the contents therein. After several minutes of searching (and a couple clones getting popped) one of them shouted out, "Hey! Over here!"

Haku, Naruto, and Hinata walked over to where the clone had indicated. The shelf was small in width and breadth, just right for a katana or a straight sword. Instead of either, though was what looked oddly like a metal tube.

"What is it?" Haku asked as Naruto dispelled the clone closest to him while the remaining ones continued searching.

"This," Naruto said almost reverently, "is the hilt of the sword known as the 'Kazejin.'" He indicated to top. "From what I know," he said, "the power inside of this weapon is almost insurmountable. The chakra of a demon is inside of here… though I do not know from which demonic clan it came from. In the end, though, its origin is inconsequential… the demon itself was killed the instant its chakra was drained away. This is little more than a shell made to contain the power within."

"But where is the blade?" Hinata asked. "It's a pretty sorry sword without an edge, isn't it?"

Naruto smiled. "Perhaps… and perhaps not," he said cryptically.

"Don't do that!" Hinata said, almost whining. "You know I hate it when you get smug!"

He laughed, taking care not to point the weapon at anyone in the room. "Just wait until we get outside, and I'll show you how the thing works, ok? Until then, we can't leave until _your _sword is recovered."

They didn't have long to wait. A few minutes later, one of the last remaining clones called them over to see what he'd found. With his thanks—as odd as it felt to thank, ultimately, _himself—_he motioned for Hinata to pick up her gift.

The sword was one of the most unusual he'd ever seen. It was a katana, for sure, but the blade was a solid ebony. There was not a hint of a glint of polished metal, not even on the edge.

True to Naruto's word, inscribed on the sides of the blade were miniature storage seals, two rows of twenty-five on each side going from hilt to the very tip of the sword. "This is… beautiful…" Hinata breathed as she took the hilt in hand. She turned away from Naruto and Haku and held it in a basic grip. With the blade held straight up, tip toward the ceiling, she tested the balance in her hands. After a moment, she frowned.

"What is it?" Naruto asked.

"It's the blade," she said. "It's heavier than usual."

Naruto smiled. "Hinata, you know how whenever you seal something in a scroll, the weight never seems to change, no matter how much you put in it? Well, just try to imagine how many items are inside of this thing—I bet that most of these seals here are filled. If it's only a _little _heavier than usual, there's probably seventy or eighty weapons inside of it."

Hinata contemplated this. "Really, now…" She turned her head and smiled at Naruto. "I guess we'll just have to find out, now, won't we?"

He laughed. "I guess so," he said. "Come on, you two. Let's get out of here. Now that I think about it, _I'm _starting to get a bit claustrophobic."

* * *

The yard outside the back of Naruto's house looked like a battleground. Naruto, Hinata, and Haku had spent much of their afternoon training together, not in teamwork, but in their own particular combat techniques. They had decided to engage in an all-on-all free-for-all, no rules, no limits. They would _try _not to kill each other… but if they went easy and didn't go all-out, they wouldn't know the limits of their abilities.

Throughout the battle, chaos had reigned across the yard and patch of woods close to the house. Not a word was said, but for the sporadic shout of a ninjutsu.

Already, Naruto had come closer to death fighting his two housemates than he cared for. Haku had been using his mirrors to great effect, having them appear randomly to harass Naruto with showers of senbon, while Hinata had ambushed him on numerous occasions with her sword—well, swords, as she'd learned quickly how to release the sealed blades and fight with a twin style.

He'd been cut. He'd been poked. He'd been chased, trapped, tripped, and tricked.

And he was getting quite annoyed.

Naruto had been struggling not to die for over two hours as Haku and Hinata seemed to gang up on him. Haku would form a mirror behind him, attack, but before Naruto could retaliate he would simply slip through the mirror and disappear somewhere else.

As soon as Haku would vanish, Hinata would show up, attacking with her swords before Naruto could completely recover.

That was not to say, however, that he was defenseless: besides his sword that he'd had since his kenjutsu training, he'd finally gotten a chance to test out the Kazejin.

The elemental sword was beyond amazing; from the business end of the hilt, a single beam of yellow chakra extended straight three feet long. The yellow blade seemed to be able to cut through anything, as any wind chakra was prone to. Though the sword that he had given Hinata seemed to be protected against damage, he'd still been able to cleanly slice every other blade she'd drawn from it in half.

Nonetheless, she was more familiar with the style of kenjutsu that her swords required than Naruto was with his Kazejin. Though his blade was longer, it had no mass—there was no weight to it, and without the momentum a blade brought to combat, it felt as if he was just swinging a rolled up newspaper around in his hands.

He had to be careful, though—the slight hiss the wind chakra blade made as it swung through the air, along with the smell of ozone whenever it got too close to his nose, reminded Naruto of just how dangerous this weapon could be.

After parrying Hinata back for what seemed like the dozenth time, then dodging a rain of senbon from yet _another _crystal mirror, Naruto leapt into a tree and shouted at the top of his lungs, "ENOUGH, ALREADY!" He was at the limit of his already-impressive stamina; he hadn't been able to stop moving for two hours, he'd been picked at, sniped at, and ambushed by two people who, by their actions, seemed to be working in conjunction to attack him with everything they had instead of delving into the melee as they had said they would.

"So," Haku called from somewhere behind him. "Are you ready to call it quits, Naruto-san?"

"No," Naruto shouted over his shoulder. "I just wanna know why the two of you are tag-teaming me! If it isn't one of you, it's the other!"

"You need the training the most, Naruto-kun!" Hinata said from the branch next to his. How she'd gotten there without him noticing, he had no idea.

"I do not!" he shot back.

"Naruto…" Haku said, appearing next to her. "You are strong. Your physical strength, chakra levels, ninjutsu… all of that surpasses my own. But your speed, when you aren't using the chakra of the Kyuubi, is still less than mine or Hinata's."

"You can't hit something you can't catch!" Hinata said. "And you can't always rely on the fox to pull your butt out of the frying pan, you know."

Naruto sighed, and let himself drop out of the tree and land on the forest floor below. "I know all that!" he said as Hinata and Haku landed next to him, a truce silently called. "But I have techniques that take it all into account!"

Hinata harrumphed. "Oh, really?"

Naruto nodded. "You forget—kitsune are legendary as tricksters. I have a plethora or techniques to distract and confuse my enemies while I maneuver into position to attack."

Haku frowned. "Such as?" he asked. "How can you beat superior speed?"

"Well," Naruto said with a grin. "For instance—I'm not Naruto."

Haku and Hinata didn't have a chance to react as the clone disappeared into a cloud of smoke. An instant later, they felt the point of a kunai at each of their necks. "The Kage Bunshin," he explained, "is one of the most important tools I have. Ask Haku, Hinata—before the seal was cracked, I was putting up a pretty good fight using pretty much nothing but clones." He withdrew the daggers and stowed them in his hip pouch.

"To be fair," Haku said, "that was while I was using nothing but kunai and senbon, and each of your clones had a sword. That may not exactly be the best example of your skills."

Naruto frowned as they turned to him. He crossed his arms. "Nonetheless," he said, "When it comes to a one-on-one situation, I can handle things on my own well enough, I think. And if I was going up against more than one, I could just swarm with bunshin… Even without the Kyuubi's chakra, I can make several _hundred._"

"But you caught us unawares," Haku said. "If we were in a real combat situation…"

"I'd have found another way," Naruto finished. "Making clones and swinging a sword around—no offense, Hinata-chan—aren't the only things I can do. I've already learned dozens of ninjutsu, I'm starting to get pretty competent with _genjutsu, _and my strength isn't anything to sneeze at. I _know _what I'm doing."

"Then why were just the two of us able to put you to the ropes?" Haku asked as he deftly twirled a senbon between his fingers.

Naruto sighed. "Well, you two seemed to be sticking to one thing each—Hinata with her swords, and you with your mirrors. I figured I would spend my time working out the finer points of the Kazejin. I figured, if I could use this thing to counter your superior kenjutsu, Hinata-chan, and your Kekkei Genkai, Haku, then even with my limitations in speed, I can still hold my own with a faster opponent—and, as you both are _painfully _aware, you are both much faster than me."

Hinata frowned. "So, do you think if I had turned it up, you could have beaten me?"

That gave Naruto pause. "Maybe…" he said. "I don't know, really. If you used your advanced Byakugan… and the Jyuuken… and your kenjutsu… I'd say it's about even, if I use all of the skills I have without resorting to the Kyuubi's chakra to give me a boost."

"Would you?" she asked seriously. "I mean… if we were sparring, and I was beating you, and you'd used every trick you had and it didn't work… would you use that trump card?"

Naruto looked at her. Would he? "Not a chance in hell!" he said vehemently. "Hinata, if you're stronger than me, you're stronger than me! I'll only use the fox if I have no other choice! Yes, he gives me a _huge _boost in attack power, but it's dangerous to rely on him, or even use him in a spar! I swear, Hinata… I'll never use him against you. Only to protect what is precious to me." His eyes softened. "And that includes you, Hinata-chan."

Hinata smiled. "You big dope," she said. "Always getting so mushy. Sorry you had to see that, Haku."

The long-haired boy smiled. "Not at all," he said. "Love like yours and his should never be hidden."

Naruto smirked. "Speaking of love," he said dangerously, "when are you and Mari going out again?"

Haku sighed. Since they'd seen him that morning, they hadn't let the spectacle he'd made of himself be forgotten. "Tomorrow night," he said. "We are going to see a concert band perform, after we eat."

"So, you'll be wearing something a bit more formal?" Hinata asked.

Haku held up a hand to ward her off. "Don't even think about it," he said. "I can dress myself just fine, thank you."

Naruto snickered as a cross look came to Hinata. "Hey! I'm just trying to help!" she said as she began walking back toward the house.

"Hinata, sweetie?" Naruto said as he and Haku followed closely behind her. "Sometimes… help just doesn't help."

* * *

_Four days later…_

* * *

Naruto took one last look through his pack to see if he'd managed to stuff everything he thought that he possibly could in there. Medical supplies, clothes, water purifying tablets, scrolls… even a spare set of kunai and shuriken was inside.

He'd known that this would be his last full day for over a week now. Though he'd spent much of that time sparring with Hinata and Haku, he also had done some research on where he could safely go to train and master the Kyuubi's chakra. After discussing the topic with Hinata, they had decided that they would travel to the south shore of Konoha where the southern mountains met the sea. The population was sparse in that area, reducing the risk of innocents getting hurt. Once they got to the sea, they could find someplace that had no other people at all, and hopefully they would not be interrupted.

Truth be told, he was getting kind of anxious about the whole thing. Yes, he had good intentions, and when he'd spoken to Hinata about it, it sounded sort of noble. But was he doing the right thing by leaving with only Hinata to accompany him? True, she had said that she would master whatever techniques Aoiryu could give her to let her handle him if he got out of control… but he had no idea how strong those techniques were. If he went as far as the full nine tails…

He shook his head. Letting this get to him wouldn't do any good. The decisions had already been made. Between the two of them, they thought that they had everything covered.

"Are you ready?" Hinata asked. She was already suited up for travel in sturdy and comfortable clothes. Her own pack was next to her on the floor of their bedroom; he hadn't even noticed her enter.

With a sigh, Naruto zipped and buckled his pack tight. "Yeah," he said. "I'm ready. Just don't know if this is a good idea, after all."

"There's no backing out now," Hinata pointed out. "We've already filled out the official leave forms. The only thing left to do is leave."

Naruto frowned. "I suppose you're right," he sighed, hefting the pack onto his back and buckling it across his chest.

Hinata snorted. "Of course I'm right. When am I wrong?"

He simply smiled and shook his head. "Never, my dear," he said.

"Damn right. So… what are you waiting for? Let's move it."

Naruto laughed as he followed Hinata out of the bedroom, through the hallway, and down the stairs. To their surprise, Haku was waiting for them at the front door. "Haku?" Naruto said as they pulled up to him. "What're you doing here?" It was well after midnight, and the ice user liked to turn in early.

"I thought that I would accompany you to the gate," Haku explained. "I thought you would appreciate a sendoff."

"Thank you, Haku," Hinata said. "That's very thoughtful of you, but you don't need to trouble yourself.

Haku shook his head. "It is no trouble at all, Hinata-chan," he said. "You two have gone through much trouble on my behalf, and are leaving your home in my care. The very least I could do is provide you with an honor guard as you embark on your journey."

They smiled. "I'm not sure that we warrant an honor guard," Naruto said, "but it will be appreciated. Thanks."

With that, they moved out. Haku walked before the duo behind him, ceremonially giving them his full protection. It was a fairly useless gesture—through his bond with the property, he knew that there was nobody around for a good distance, but he knew that Haku took it seriously enough nonetheless.

Haku escorted them to the border of the property and beyond. As he lead them through the streets that were mostly deserted by this hour, though, here and there shinobi and civilian passed them by. Some cast them odd glances—most of them knew who Hinata and Naruto were by sight, but Haku was still somewhat of an unknown to most of the village proper. That he was an honor guard for the son of the Yondaime and the possible heiress of the Hyuuga clan, though, didn't go unnoticed.

After about half an hour, they reached the main gates of the village. They could have easily reached them in minutes, but it just didn't seem right to rush this. These were their final moments before they left for what could possibly be a good long time. Neither Naruto or Hinata had any idea how long it would him to master the Kyuubi's raw power. They could be gone for months.

When they got to the gates, though, a surprise awaited them: Sarutobi, Kakashi, and Honoka stood in front of them. "It's about time!" Honoka called good-naturedly.

"How long have you three been here?" Naruto asked as they approached.

"Not too long," Sarutobi growled. "Less than an hour."

Naruto cocked an eyebrow. "Ok, what's going on?" he asked. "You know why we're leaving."

Sarutobi nodded. "Of course. I approved the leave application myself."

"Then what's going on?" Hinata asked. "You aren't assigning us another mission, are you? Because if you are, I'll have to repeat Naruto's advice on what to do with it, same as the last one you tried to give us!"

The Hokage chuckled and shook his head. "Why I ever thought it would be a smart idea to make you two angry at me, I will never know," he said. "No, Hinata-chan, I promise that I'm not assigning you anything. I merely came to wish you well, same as Kakashi-kun and Honoka-chan. We've all grown rather fond of you."

Naruto relaxed. Apparently, this was simply a sendoff, same as Haku. "Thanks," he said. "Don't worry too much about us, ok? We'll be fine."

"We know," said Honoka. "We have faith in you, kid. But that doesn't mean that we ain't gonna be worrying. It's a big, bad world out there, and trust me—you aren't the baddest thing out there yet. Watch your back, ok?"

Naruto smiled. "No need," he said. "Hinata will be watching it for me. That way, I can worry about looking forward the whole way."

Honoka glanced at the girl in question. "Is he always this much of a sap?" she asked.

Hinata laughed. "More and more each day," she confirmed. She ruffled Naruto's hair. "But I kinda like that about him."

Honoka shrugged, but smiled. "Well, you gotta live with him," she said. "Ya'll take care, ok?"

"Got it," Naruto said, smiling. He glanced at Kakashi, who, of course, was absorbed in one of his smutty books. "Well?" he said, focusing his voice at his official sensei.

Kakashi's lone exposed eye flicked toward the boy. "Try not to get into trouble," he said lazily.

"Who, me?" Naruto asked, not a trace of innocence in his vulpine smirk. "Wouldn't dream of it."

Kakashi's eye twitched—for him, that was the equivalent of a face-wide grin. "Just in case," he drawled, "take this." He pulled a small scroll from his pouch and handed it to Naruto.

"What's this?" he asked.

"This is a temporary summoning scroll," Kakashi explained. "It will allow you to summon all of my ninja hounds in case you get into trouble. It's only good for one use, though—so only use it when you need it. If you need to contact me, they'll let me know."

Naruto knew what an honor this was. The dogs Kakashi was contracted to were different from most summoned beasts in that he'd raised them all from pups. "Thank you, Kakashi-sensei," he said with genuine gratitude. "I'll keep it safe."

"You better," he said lightly. "Those dogs aren't anything to sneeze at. They love me, but only tolerate everyone else."

"No problem," Naruto said. "I'll treat them with the respect that they're due. That, you can count on, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi genuinely smiled. "I know," he said. "Just had to get it out in the air. Now, unless there's anything else…" He looked over at Sarutobi and Honoka.

The Hokage shook his head. "Nothing," he said. "Naruto… every host of the Kyuubi controls the fox's power differently. Your mother used his power to reinforce her seals—she was one of the few shinobi who could simply use seals effectively in battle. I suspect, however, that you will focus more on the pure combat style. If I may offer some advice?"

Naruto nodded.

"Don't… don't let yourself get addicted to the power it gives you," said the old man. "From what I have heard, there is a rush you can experience from prolonged exposure to demonic chakra. Try not to get hooked."

"I'll try," Naruto said. "I know what you mean, though. I _did _feel the surge of power… and I wanted more when it had left. I'll be careful, though, I promise."

"Good," Sarutobi said. "Now… Guards! Open the gates, please!"

The Chuunin at the top of the wall rushed to obey their Hokage and turned the gears that opened the main gates of Konoha. "Naruto… Hinata… you take care of yourselves, ok?"

Naruto grinned. "Yes, sir!" he said.

"Well… then what are you waiting for? Get the hell out of my village!"

Naruto laughed as he walked out past the threshold. "You got it, old man! By the time I return, I'll have mastered the power of the Kyuubi! You can bet on it, or my name isn't Uzumaki Naruto! Believe it!"

* * *

A/N: Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking: "Woo hoo, another filler chapter. Yeah, we learned some more stuff, but there's the action? Where's the sex?" Well, I kinda agree with a lot of you there. Yeah, we had some action in the forest scene, but it really wasn't the same. So… next chapter will be pretty much a high octane zerg rush chapter. God, I love writing action chapters.

Working on Second Chances Chapter 3 right now, but it's a little slow in coming. I actually have two more ideas in the works, neither of which are Naruto-based. Now, hear me out—I actually think I have a winner with one of these. The one that I'm leaning more towards is a fic based on "The Incredibles" and it's based on Jack-Jack when he's fifteen years old, trying to make it in a world that takes supers for granted. It's kind of a coming-of-age story, but I really like what I have in mind for it.

The second fic I might do is based off of the Teen Titans cartoon. Essentially, after the series is over—after "Trouble in Tokyo", too, two more teams of Titans are founded, Titans North and South. The story will focus on the North Titans as old (and new) enemies are brought to the front. Tentatively, I'm planning for the roster of this crew to be Red Star, Jynx, Argent, Kid Flash (Wally West version) and quite possibly Bushido, if only to round out the "badass normal" slot that Robin and Speedy seem to occupy on their own teams.

Anyway, I know that you all have better things to do. Review and, if possible, let me know what you think of my story ideas!

Don't eat week-old frosting. Seriously. Did that today. I paid for it.

dead witch


	26. Destined Encounter

Well, here we are again! Sorry that it's taken so long to get this chapter done; I've been really beat by class lately, and I've actually taken some time out to actually read other people's fanfiction. Listen to me: if you get the chance, look up a story called "The Sealed Kunai" by Kenchi618. I promise you, you will not be disappointed.

I took a look at my traffic stats today, and I saw that there are quite a few of you from Iraq and Afghanistan who have seen my work. That's insanely cool. Just saying.

I don't have too much else to say right now... Nothing worthwhile, at least. Read on, and enjoy. Review if you get the chance, too. Reviews make me giddy.

* * *

**Chapter 26**

"One more time!" Hinata shouted at Naruto. She was dressed only in a tank top and a pair of shorts, not even wearing sandals on the loose-packed gravely beach at the bottom of a seventy-foot cliff. Her skin was covered in a mixture of sweat and salt water spray from the crashing waves on the rocky shore. She was in her Jyuuken combat position, her arms pulled slightly more into her body than usual. She was playing defensively at the moment.

"Hi…Hinata!" Naruto shouted as he stood up on wobbly knees. He was bare-chested and wearing only a pair of denim shorts frayed at the hems. "I can't do it! I'm too tired!" He was so drenched in sweat that it was dripped off of his arms in rivulets.

"Can't? There's no such thing as can't!" the Hyuuga shouted. "'Can't' is for people who decide that they're done trying! 'Can't' is for quitters! Naruto, either you try just _one more time _or so help me, I will have you climbing that cliff wall one-handed _all day _tomorrow!"

Naruto winced. Since they had gotten to the southern shore of Konoha, Hinata had become a woman possessed: for over two weeks, she had been little more than a drill instructor to the demon-imbued boy. Every order was crisp and sharp, and she tolerated no rebuke. It was as if she had become an entirely different person.

Those two weeks had been spent giving Naruto the training she decided he desperately needed even more than that which would help him master the Kyuubi's chakra—she was putting him through his paces in his taijutsu. While he was steadily coming along, increasing his overall effectiveness as the days went on, he still wasn't a match for her in simple hand-to-hand combat.

It seemed that they had gone a bit astray from their former reason for coming to the coast in the first place. Originally, they had gone into isolation so that Naruto could safely practice using his demonic chakra without risking the lives of others. However…

He couldn't _access _the demonic chakra. It was as if it wasn't there _at all. _Naruto could talk to the Kyuubi—even enter into a trance and go to the sewer that was the mental landscape for the seal. But for the life of him, he just couldn't tap the vast reservoir of power inside of him.

This terrified the hell out of him.

After a few days of him doing nothing but attempting to access the red chakra, Hinata had gotten bored rather quickly. While he found a new spot every few hours to meditate—sometimes on the edge of the cliffs, sometimes in the forest where they camped—she practiced her own ninjutsu and taijutsu. There was no point in sitting around and doing nothing while Naruto… sat around and did nothing.

A week into this routine, Hinata decided to call a halt to the monotony and told Naruto that he was going to be her sparring partner. He protested, but she had pointed out that he wasn't getting anywhere on his own, and she needed to keep her skills sharp as much as he did. He acquiesced reluctantly, knowing what kind of training she would put him through.

Sure enough, she'd done nothing but put him through his paces in his taijutsu skills. For four hours each day, after a fruitless struggle to get in touch with his wild side, Hinata put him through a training regime that made Maito Gai's training from hell look like a walk in the park.

She was truly relentless in her instruction; there was no mercy for him in her pale lavender eyes. Every time he balked, she hit him with a well-placed strike. Every time he faltered, she hit him again. He knew this was all for his own good, and that she took no personal pleasure in all of this, but he couldn't help but feel that maybe she was going just a little bit overboard.

Naruto inhaled deeply in preparation for one last charge. Hinata wasn't taking it easy on him, though she hadn't once employed her family's specialty taijutsu, the Jyuuken, quite yet. Instead, she utilized her swift movements to target Naruto's vital and weak points. By bunching her first two fingers and thumb together, amazing pressure could be applied that would cause extreme pain, and in some cases could actually rupture internal organs. It was against this that Naruto had to fight… to _survive. _Though she was the love of his life, he was beginning to resent the hell out of her.

That wasn't to say that he wasn't getting his licks in, either. He'd adjusted his fighting style for her—by keeping his distance and dashing side to side and waiting for her to leave an opening, his longer arms and legs let him get the occasional sharp strike in, though she usually gave him back two or three for every one of his. Everything aside, though, he was getting his ass handed to him, and he knew it.

He exhaled… then charged Hinata. He faked a jab; when she moved to defend against it, he dropped to the ground and twisted to sweep her feet out from under her.

Of course, she leapt up to avoid the sweep. Naruto knew that she would, so he maintained his circular momentum and used his hands to push him up into the air. He put as much force as possible as possible into his right leg and attempted to crush it against her abdominals, but her reaction was too acute for him. She threw her legs straight up into the air and pushed his shin down _just _far enough to go under her rear, and for one wild second it looked like she was playing some crazy, deadly game of leapfrog.

They landed in the same instant. Hinata flipped backwards on one hand while using the other to defend her face against the kick Naruto threw at her head with a quick forward step. She regained her footing in time to parry a flurry of jabs and crosses from the furious fists of her sparring partner. She was forced to go fully on the defensive, though to her credit none of the blows actually landed.

Naruto was flagging, and both of them knew it. Even his near-unnatural stamina had a breaking point, and he was very near to reaching it. Hinata prepared herself for the final sequence that he had the strength for, for this would be their final confrontation.

With just a split second's pause to catch his breath, Naruto leapt forward at Hinata… to land on his hands just a foot and a half short of her. While upside down and facing away, he flailed his bare feet at her face, one right after another.

Hinata was taken aback—she'd never encountered a combat style anything like this, and had absolutely _no idea _how to counter it besides guard her face and dodge the blows. His feet were flying at her face too quickly for her to mount a counterstrike—and, in any case, the Jyuuken taijutsu method entirely relied on an opponent being _upright. _As far as she knew, there weren't any methods to fight someone standing on their _hands_.

She backed up a couple steps, but Naruto walked on his hands to chase after her, all the while raining down blow after blow at her face and chest. Even though he was on his last legs—or arms, as the case would be—he had somehow taken control of the fight, and she had absolutely no idea whatsoever how she could wrest control back.

Naruto seemed to overbalance suddenly and both feet came at her chest in a blur. She leaned backwards and attempted to catch his legs and render him ineffective, but in another turn of events he threw his left leg in front of him while the right was still pointed at her and began to spin around in a circle with his arms pumping him into a heavy rotation. His legs now flew at her from her right side, and even her considerable dexterity couldn't block them fully without hurting herself, so powerful were the swings.

_How can I stop him? _Hinata asked herself as she dodged side-to-side and backwards while he chased her across the loosely-packed sand. _Even in the sand, he's got the advantage. Am I really this unprepared to fight an unorthodox taijutsu style?_

She flipped backwards toward the ocean. Naruto stopped his spinning instantly and chased her while still on his hands. If she weren't so focused on not getting knocked around, she would have laughed at the sheer lunacy he represented… fighting on his hands, of all things!

All the while, sand had been kicked into the air as they moved, but Naruto especially was responsible for the incredible cloud that obscured them. If he hadn't been so close to her, she might have lost sight of him.

_That's it! _she realized suddenly. _That's how to beat him! _

"Naruto!" she said as she neared the water. "In advance, I'm really sorry for doing something dirty!"

Naruto's front was facing her when she stopped. So much blood had rushed to his head while he was upside down that it looked like a blond tomato. He kicked his shins and feet at her, but she just managed to dodge them. "What do you mean?" he said between breaths.

"THIS!" she shouted. She sidestepped and caught one of his ankles. Before he could react, she used her left foot, not to attack… but to sweep a pile of sand into his face.

"Aargh!" he shouted as his legs flailed. The heel of his foot caught her in the gut as he reacted instinctively. With a whoosh, the air in her lungs exploded through her lips and she fell backwards like a log.

Naruto collapsed, going straight downwards, barely managing to land on his shoulders instead of his head. His calves and thighs came to rest on Hinata's stomach. They both lay there struggling to catch their breath, Naruto rubbing the sand out of his eyes with a soiled forearm.

"Hi…Hi…" Naruto gasped. "Hinata," he finally said. "I think…I think we're done for the day."

Hinata groaned as she pushed one of his legs off of her. "You… argh… you think?" she said when the other leg finally flopped off. She rolled over and put a hand on his belly to brace herself to push herself to her feet. Naruto grunted from the pressure.

When she stood up, she reached down and grabbed Naruto's hand and helped pull him to his feet. "So… can we just put all this boot camp crap on the shelf for now?" he asked. "Seriously, Hinata. I am getting kinda tired of getting my ass handed to me."

She laughed as he leaned on her shoulder to support himself. "I'm just trying to toughen you up, sweetie," she said. "If I start kicking you around enough, maybe you'll actually be able to summon the fox's chakra?"

Naruto shook his head. "Ugh," he moaned as he draped an arm over her shoulder; it still hurt from landing on it moments before. "I don't think it works like that," he said. "I've been thinking about this for a while, and I don't think that I'll make it come out just by fighting you."

They began lumbering toward the tree line, above the sand, where they had left their gear. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Naruto blinked rapidly; a speck of sand had gotten into his left eye. "Every time I used the Kyuubi's chakra consciously in the past," he said, "I either felt a—a kind of rage, or a rush, or my life was in danger and it happened automatically. There's no way that I could hate you, Hinata, and I know that no matter how much you beat me up, you won't kill me. I'm getting worn down, but I'm not in any danger."

Hinata sighed. "So what are you going to do?" she asked. "Are you just going to go and _look _for trouble?"

He shook his head. "No," he said. "I don't do that anymore. Well… not as often as I used to. I either have to fight someone who really wants to kill me, or make myself so pissed off I can't take it."

"Again—_how _is any of that going to be accomplished? I know you could probably find someone who wants to kill you soon enough, Naruto, but what's the point in all of this training if you're stuck?"

Naruto thought about this for a moment. This was a very good question. "I really don't know," he admitted. "Right now… Maybe we should go back home. I have no idea what to do from here, short packing up and invading another hidden village and declaring outright war."

Hinata turned her head to face him. "That's not funny," she said. "I do not need to be in the middle of an international incident again!"

Naruto simply smiled. "No," he said, "that's not gonna happen. Unless you have any suggestions… maybe it's about time to go home."

She sighed. She was getting a lot more taijutsu training done here than she would have back in the village. For most of the past two missions they were on, she'd been mostly on the sidelines, especially in Wave. It simply felt _good _to push herself every day in hand-to-hand combat. Perhaps she was enjoying fighting a little too much… but that was only because her skills weren't being used by the Konoha government to their fullest potential.

With a start, she realized that this might be just what it felt like to be a Hyuuga.

"I do have an idea," she said, "though you might not like it…"

They reached the fallen log where they had set their stuff. Naruto sat down on it with a huff and pulled a plastic bottle full of water out of his bag and took a big swig. He gulped, swallowed, and then said "At this point, Hinata, I'm willing to listen to anything."

"Well…" She seemed unsure of herself. "What if… well, the Kyuubi is the strongest of the tailed beasts, right?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah," he said. "So?"

"I was just wondering… what about the other ones?"

The question hit Naruto like a brick. He'd never even thought much about the other people who must have the Bijuu inside of them. "The… other jinchūriki…" he said aloud.

"I mean, there are some others like you out there, right?" she asked, pressing the issue. "That means that somewhere, someone must have mastered the art of mastering demonic chakra. Maybe you should try to find them, wherever they are?"

Naruto frowned. "I don't think that's such a good idea right now," he said. "Not at the moment, anyway. I have no idea who they are, or even where they would be. We jinchūriki… we're not a happy bunch of people. From what my father's memories have told me of them, we usually aren't treated too well by our villages."

"It's something to think about, though," she said.

Naruto smiled at her. "Yeah… I guess so." He looked out over the ocean. "For now, though, I just want to take a bath, get some dinner, and take a really, _really _long nap."

Hinata grinned. Naruto was covered with sweat, sand, and dirt. His hair was matted as thick as a carpet, and was dichotomously spiked and flat. To say that he looked rough would be a gross understatement. "I'll support the 'bath' part, Naruto," she said. "You look like you've been rolled over by a dust storm. But it's too early for dinner yet."

Naruto groaned and grabbed at his already-gurgling stomach. "Aww…" he whined. "But I'm _hungry, _Hinata-chan!"

She smirked. He only added the affectionate honorific either when he wanted something, or she wouldn't let him have his way. It was just so… so _cute _how pathetic she could make him sometimes. "You're always hungry," she pointed out. "Another couple hours isn't going to kill you, you know."

"I know," he complained. "It's a curse."

She laughed and scooted closer to him and kissed his dust-covered lips, tasting the grit and grime. "If you weren't always so hungry, you would just have something else on your mind, right?"

It didn't take someone of Shikamaru's intellect to know what Hinata was alluding to. He smiled and winked. "Why, Hinata… I have absolutely _no _idea what you could be referring to."

She playfully swatted his shoulder with the back of her hand. He laughed as he took the blow, but almost immediately winced. "Are you ok?" she asked with genuine concern.

He sighed as he rubbed his shoulder humbly. "Yeah," he said. "Bruised and banged up, but I'll live. I wish we had a medic here with us… then we could _really _go at it."

Hinata smiled as she stood up and arched her back while her hands were planted on her hips. She moaned as her muscles tensed and relaxed. Naruto couldn't help but notice just how alluring she was in profile like that. No matter how dirty and sweaty she got… she was _always _sexy to him. "There's no use for wishing for things we can't have," she pointed out.

"Very true," a voice said from down to their left.

Naruto and Hinata turned quickly to see a middle-aged man ambling through the sand-infested scrub grass. He was dressed as a monk in black robes lined with ochre and carried a staff with a ring on the top. His short grey hair was black, but flecked with grey near his hairline. Heavy eyelids concealed dark grey eyes, so heavy that less than half of his iris could be seen. "Very true," he repeated, using his staff for leverage. Now that he was closer, they could see that he was having trouble walking over the ground in clunky wooden sandals. "There is never any purpose in wishing for things that cannot be attained. The young lady speaks very wise."

Hinata smiled slightly, but looked somewhat anxious. "Thank you…" she said guardedly. Over time, she'd come to not trust anybody too quickly.

"Oh! I'm sorry for interrupting you like this," he said. "I am on a sacred pilgrimage at the moment, and if I had the option, I would be taking the road a couple miles to the north." He grimaced. "Unfortunately, my temple requires that its faithful take this route along the shore. It's a pain, but still…" The monk shrugged. "Faith means doing the stupid, sometimes."

Naruto laughed. "I hear you, priest," he said.

The man shook his head. "I'm no priest," he said. "I'm just a simple monk trying to make the world a better place." He looked at Naruto. "Speaking of which—young man, I couldn't help but overhear you two from a bit away. Are you all right?"

Naruto nodded. "I'm fine," he assured the monk. "We're shinobi, and we just came out this way to train our taijutsu for a while. We're just bruised and banged up a bit."

The monk shook his head. "Kids," he mumbled. "So eager to beat the crap out of each other."

Naruto was amused by the choice of words from the monk. "You have no idea," he said.

The man sighed. "Unfortunately… I do. I travel the continent, going wherever there is war. I provide last rights for soldiers, some no older than you. I have a pretty good hand with healing, though." He reached into his vest and pulled out a short cylindrical jar. "Here," he said. "A gift from above, if you will."

Naruto smiled as he took the vessel. "Is this some kind of muscle relaxer?" he asked.

"No," the man said. "It just takes away pain and helps with healing. It's easy to make, and the herbs in it can be found nearly anywhere."

"Thank you," Hinata told the man, smiling. "What is your name?"

"Oh! I nearly forgot," he said. "I abandoned my name long ago when I joined my fraternity, but for the sake of a name… you can call me Araki. That was the name that I was given at birth."

Naruto stood up and bowed formally. "Thank you for the balm," he said. "It is truly appreciated."

Araki waved his hand genially, then bowed back to the boy. "Think nothing of it," he said. "The Buddha teaches us to respect all life, even down to the lowliest ant. To give help where I can is my life."

Naruto smiled. "Well," he said, "let us pay you back anyway." He began walking back toward camp, with Hinata and Araki following. "Have you eaten lately?"

Araki shook his head. "Not since breakfast, no, child. The devotee's path is a long one, and I cannot stop too often."

Naruto shook his head. "Pious monk or not," he said, "everybody's gotta eat. We were just winding down from our training, and we were thinking about dinner—"

"_You _were thinking about dinner," interrupted Hinata. "_I _told you to wait."

"But you wouldn't let a hungry man go by, would you?" he shot back at her.

She sighed, but gave in with a smile. "Well… not _this _one," she said. "But I'd let you starve if I thought you deserved it."

Naruto clutched his heart in mock pain. "Oh," he groaned, a false grimace hitting his face. "You cut me deep. Why do you hit me so hard, Hinata?"

Hinata giggled. "Because I know you can take it, Naruto. You're somewhat tough, after all, right?"

Araki stopped suddenly, and Hinata bumped into him. "Oops!" she said. "Um, sorry! Is something wrong?"

Araki said nothing… he merely looked at Naruto as the boy stopped and turned around slowly. "Araki-san?" Naruto said hesitantly. "What is it?"

Hinata circled around Araki to in front of him, placing herself between him and Naruto.

"Araki-san," Naruto said, echoing Hinata, "what is going on?"

The monk's eyes, which were naturally heavy-lidded, closed completely. His jaw was clenched, and the hand that held his staff gripped the burnished metal tightly.

"Your name…" Araki said slowly. "It is Naruto?"

_What's going on? _Naruto thought. "Yeah," he said. "I know it's a weird name, but so what?" _Unless… No…_

Araki slowly… _slowly… _opened his eyes, just a little bit more wide than they had been before. "Boy," he said softly and calmly, "what is your family name?"

That question put Naruto on edge. From the way he asked it, he already knew the answer. "My name," he said, "is Uzumaki Naruto. I am a shinobi from Konohagakure. But you know that already… don't you, Araki-san?"

The monk nodded curtly. "I do," he said brusquely.

"So what is your beef with Konoha?" Naruto asked. "Your brother killed by one of us or something?"

Araki actually smiled just a little bit. "No," he said. "No, nothing like that. I have no hate for Konoha. I just don't think that it would be good for me to be around you right now… no, _especially _now." He turned around and slowly walked back toward the beach. "If you'll excuse me… Young Hyuuga, Uzumaki… I'll be on my way. Good luck with your training."

Before he had taken three steps, Naruto had Shunshined in front of Araki, who didn't seem at all surprised by the boy's speed. "You're not going anywhere," he growled. "Tell me who you are. You obviously know who I am, just from my first name. How could you know?" He then frowned. "Unless… you're following me, for some reason. Is that it, monk? Are you following me?"

Araki shook his head slowly. "No," he said. "I am not following you, boy. The gods just like to play with my fate sometimes. Truly, they can be cruel. Were it not for the teachings of the Buddha, I may have gone mad long ago. But I swear to you, I have not come here looking for you. Now, please…" He lowered his staff and gently nudged Naruto in the shoulder with the ring at the end of it. "Please get out of the way."

Araki brushed past Naruto without waiting for the boy to answer. Again, Naruto appeared in the way of the monk in a blur. Araki sighed and rubbed his eyes with his free hand. "This is getting old," he said wearily. "Please, child of Minato, just let me go. I have no quarrel with you. I have a pilgrimage to complete."

"Not a chance!" Naruto said. "You see, I hate it when people are cryptic. I don't know what your story is—but if you know who my father was, and you know who I am, that means that you know _what _I am, right?"

Araki looked up to the skies for guidance. "Yes," he said reluctantly. "You are the host of the Kyuubi, the same as your mother, and another from your clan before her. But it is not my place to take a part in your life." Once again, he moved past Naruto—who _again _flickered to intercept the man.

"I'll say it again," Naruto barked. "You're not going anywhere until I get some answers. Now, tell me who you are and how you know me. While you're at it, tell me _why _you're trying to avoid me. Did my father or mother do something to you or something?"

Araki's shoulders slumped marginally. "Hyuuga girl," he said over his shoulder to Hinata, "is he always this obstinate?"

Hinata nodded hesitantly. "Usually, yes, sir."

"And is there anything that I can do to get him to back off?"

Hinata gulped. "Um… n-not without answering his questions, I don't think so, sir."

"I see…" He turned his head back to Naruto. "Boy, I am a monk—a Buddhist monk, to be precise. I try to follow the path that the Buddha has set for the world. Like the Buddha, I have forgiven you three times… but also like the Buddha, I will _only _forgive you three times. Leave me be… there will not be a fourth."

Araki slowly took a step toward Naruto, then around. Naruto grabbed the monk's sleeve. "I don't know that much about Buddhism," he said, "or any of that other stuff you were rambling on about. But if you think I'll just let you walk away when you have some answers for me that I can't get anywhere else, then you've got another thing coming. You can leave when _I _say you can, Araki-san."

The very wind seemed to die as the monk's body language subtly changed. "Is that a fact?" he asked casually.

"Yes."

Araki hung his head. "Well, then… let me enlighten you on one more thing before you try to get some answers out of me, boy. There is something that most people don't know about the Buddha. Would you like to know what it is?"

Naruto's fist clenched around the man's sleeve. "What would that be?" he asked.

"The Buddha," Araki said, "before he became enlightened… was a warrior." In a blink, Araki knocked Naruto's feet out from under him with the ringed end of his staff, hanging him in the air for a split second, a look of utter shock on his face. Under other circumstances, it would have been comical.

With his free hand, he formed his fingers in a claw and held it palm up, as if holding onto something heavy. He thrust it at the sky—

Naruto went zooming into the air, up, up, up, until he was suspended nearly a hundred feet above the ground. With a shaking hand, Araki held his hand up above his head and, with a yell to focus, made as if to throw something in front of him. As he swung his arm, Naruto went from motionless to zipping through the air in a blur toward the ocean.

"AAAAAHHHHHH!"

Naruto screamed as he tore through the air, though he quickly grew out of earshot. As soon as he was, Araki leaned his staff against his shoulder and massaged his clawed hand with the other one. "It's been a while since I've had to do that," he said in a conversational tone. "I'm a bit rusty."

Hinata didn't waste time with banter; instead, she rushed at the monk with her rage-filled Byakugan fully activated, her palms held before her, ready to strike.

He didn't even turn around. He merely batted her probing palms away with the butt-end of his staff from over his shoulder. It didn't seem that he was taunting her—he just didn't need to put any more effort into warding her off. Every time she tried to strike, the metal shaft was there to intercept her attack.

When she realized that she wouldn't make any headway with this method, she leapt backwards and flashed some hand seals. "**Suiton: Tajuu Teppoudama!**" she called, followed by several dozen bullets of water flying from her mouth at the monk.

Araki turned around and twirled his staff in a circle in front of him. Realistically, Hinata knew that at least _one _of her water bullets should have gotten through, but to her utter amazement Araki didn't even have a single wet spot on his robes when he planted it back into the ground. "Hyuuga-chan," he said, "calm down, please. Uzumaki is just fine, I threw him into the ocean. There is nothing wrong with him. You're the one with the Byakugan—look for yourself."

Hinata paused… then actually _used _the vaunted eyes she inherited from her clan for their primary purpose: long-distance viewing without obstructions. To her slight amusement, Naruto was floating in the water, stunned, but conscious and unhurt. "He's ok," she said.

"I already told you that," Araki said, scoffing. "Didn't need the Byakugan to know he'd survive that throw. Uzumaki are made of sterner stuff than that."

"I—I suppose they are," Hinata said hesitantly. "But… why did you throw him? And _how? _It was as if there was an invisible giant doing your bidding!"

Araki hung his head and sighed. "I threw him because he wouldn't _get out of my way. _I swear, children can never pick up on the simplest of things. If he had just let me go, I wouldn't have made him into a human shot-put. And, how did I do it? Simple: I'm telekinetic. Anything I touch, I can control with my mind. It's pretty much as simple as that.

"Now, if that will be all, Mrs. Hyuuga," he concluded, "I have a shrine to get to."

"Wait!" Hinata shouted after the man. "Please, wait!"

The monk stopped, but closed his eyes. "What is it _now?_" he said testily. "You are marginally more polite than your friend—but my patience wears thin. I know why you two are out here—yes, girl, I could read your mind, too. That is another handy little skill that I have. If you think for one second that you will be able to help him crack his seal and access his demonic chakra, you are sadly mistaken."

"Wait—what? _What?" _she shrieked. "Just who the hell are you? And what gives you the right to peer inside my head?"

Araki smirked. "You Hyuuga," he said condescendingly. "Always so full of yourselves. Tell me, Hyuuga-hime… have you ever used your Byakugan to peep on someone? Or perhaps to learn something that was no business of yours? Basically have you ever _invaded someone's privacy?"_

Hinata's hands began glowing eerily. "I am _nothing _like the rest of my clan," she whispered ominously. "I have distanced myself from them as much as humanly possible without cutting my own eyes out of my _skull. _Compare me to them again, though, or read my thoughts without my consent… I will show you _just _how much I take after my father when I choose to." As her anger built, the glow around her hands grew larger and larger, until they began to take the shape of lions' heads. The air around her crackled with the raw energy. "Got it, monk?"

Araki looked at her stoically. "That's a fairly advanced technique for Genin Hyuuga," he said. "Have you figured out the counter-rotation counter-attack sequence against blunt weapons yet?"

Hinata eyed him with fury. "Do you want to find out?" she hissed.

Araki smiled slightly. "Maybe another time," he said. "I've always wondered what would happen if I fought a Hyuuga." He turned around. "Until the hypothetical 'then', my dear…" He suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. "Oh, great Buddha," he mumbled. "Girl," he said quickly, "what is your range with your eyes?"

The question made Hinata hesitate. She had been ready to attack the monk just seconds beforehand… but now, he was asking for her help. She let the lion-shaped aura around her hands die down before answering—though well within her abilities, the amount of chakra they consumed was not insignificant. "I can see about five miles all around," she answered guardedly. "More, though, if I focus in one direction. Why?"

Araki looked as if he wanted to say something snarky, but visibly restrained himself. Finally, after a moment, he said, "I sense something at the very limit of my perception… something dark and evil. I don't know what it is, but nothing good comes from it. I can sense many evils in this world, girl—it goes with the whole 'monk' thing."

"How far?" Hinata asked. "How far is your limit? And what should I be looking for, anyway?"

"I can sense evil up to eight miles or so away," Araki said. "So you might have to focus a little… and as for _what, _I don't know. All evil feels the same to me."

Hinata sighed. "That's not a lot to work on," she snapped.

The monk slowly turned his head to meet her eyes with his. Hinata was no pushover (anymore, at least) and had more iron in her spine than most… but for some reason, she quailed under the gaze of the holy man. "Just do it," he said coldly. "We have no time for argument. Just do it, girl. _Now."_

She gulped; for some reason, she could not resist his order. Her voice quavered when she said "Y-yes sir." Araki's eyes were like pits—for some reason, she felt that if she didn't do as he said, she would face something more than she could imagine.

She held up her right hand in a half ram seal to help focus, then began scanning the landscape around them in quadrants. By excluding three quarters of her field, she could quadruple her total range. This was a skill that Aoiryu had given her, a skill that she, alone among Hyuuga, possessed.

After a moment, after she had looked through nearly every square foot of the surrounding territory, she finally spotted what Araki had felt. "I think I found what you sensed," she said.

"What do you see?" he said impatiently.

She frowned. "I see… two men, if that word applies. They are on the beach, near the tree line, going from east to west. At the rate that they're moving, they should be in this area inside of an hour or so.

"They both have on black cloaks with red clouds. One is blond, but his chakra network is nothing like I have ever seen before. A disproportionate amount of his tenketsu are localized in his hands and the left side of his chest. The other…" She blanched.

"What?" Araki pressed. "What about the other?"

Hinata gulped. "Um… Araki-san? Have you ever heard of a puppet not having a puppeteer?"

Araki narrowed his eyes. "That should be impossible. No, it _is _impossible."

"Then you should tell them that," Hinata said, "because I see a marionette, but nobody's pulling the strings. I see chakra threads all around the doll itself, but no source. Can puppets be controlled remotely somehow?"

The monk shook his head. "I have never heard of anybody having the skill to perform such a feat. Describe the puppet to me."

Hinata nodded. "It is large, walking on back legs, though it is hunched forward. It has two arms—one humanoid right arm, but its left arm appears rigged with a kind of claymore bomb. It seems to have recently gone through a heavy battle… the wood on its shell is cracked, and large chunks are missing. It is limping, favoring the right leg. Most of the right arm is destroyed, hanging by splinters and, oddly enough, string. The cloak is in tatters; from what I can see, a result of being ripped and torn."

Araki nodded. "And what about inside of it? Perhaps his puppeteer is inside?"

"Ah—maybe," she admitted. Much to her chagrin, the habit of _not _looking inside of people or through their clothing was still ingrained in her. She focused just a little more and adjusted her perception… and paled, speechless.

Araki grabbed her by the shoulder. "What? What is it?" he barked.

"I… I see…" she swallowed. "There are two—_people, _I guess you could say, in the puppet. There is one man with red hair, and one girl with green. The man, though—he _isn't _a man. He's a puppet! He's a puppet _controlling a puppet! _How is that possible?"

"It's not," Araki said lowly as he turned away. "It _shouldn't _be. Black cloaks… red clouds… where have I heard of this before? … Red… red… clouds…" He put his chin in his hands. "I would _swear _I have heard of this at one time or another, but I can't place it." He turned again to look at the Hyuuga. "Tell me about the girl."

Hinata nodded again. "She's a little older than me. Maybe fifteen years old or so? Maybe a little older? She is wearing a cream-colored skirt and top, with netting underneath. It looks like she's been captured; she shows signs of recent combat. Both of her arms are broken, her left ankle is cracked, and she's bruised all over the place. She shows internal injuries, but nothing immediately life-threatening."

Araki closed his eyes and crossed his arms. "So… she's probably a shinobi. Maybe she has a bounty on her head. Does she have a hitai-ate?"

"Yes," Hinata said. "She has a Waterfall band around her right bicep."

Araki hummed. "Waterfall… green hair… why does that sound so familiar? Hmm… is there anything else, girl? Anything distinguishing about her?"

She focused once more. "Well… there's a mark on her back, on her right shoulder blade. It looks like some kind of sealing justu." Her eyes opened wide in realization. "You don't think…"

Araki's expression was panicked. "I know who she is, now!" he said. "Also, I know where the men who have her are from! Quick, girl, take me to the boy—Naruto. We don't have much time! If I'm right—and I hope to the Buddha that I am wrong—then these two might be after him too!"

Hinata wasted no time. She grabbed her sword from where it was leaning against a stump and ran through the trees directly to where Naruto had dragged himself on the beach, Araki following just behind her. Though the two from this group that had the monk in a panic were still many miles away, the fact that he was _this _nervous was not a good sign.

They were out of the woods and on the beach where Naruto had dragged himself to shore within seconds and by his side. He still looked dazed, but uninjured and cognizant. His eyes burned when he saw Araki, but softened when Hinata pulled up alongside. He stood up, wobbling slightly, though Hinata caught his elbow before he could fall on his ass. "Buh… Bastard," he mumbled, shaking his head to get the cobwebs out. "What the hell did you do to me?"

Araki sighed. "I threw you, kid," he said. "You wouldn't get out of my way, so I _got _you out of my way. Lucky for you, I didn't do to you what most people do to pests. Count yourself fortunate."

"Argue later," Hinata said. "But right now, we have a problem."

Naruto bit back the retort he had prepared for the monk. "What's going on, Hinata?" he asked. "What problem?"

She bit her lip. How exactly should she put this? "You remember all of those weird coincidences that just keep on happening to you?" she said after a moment's thought. "How trouble just seems to keep following you around?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I still don't know why my life is so crapsack sometimes… but what about it?"

Hinata looked edgewise at Araki. "Um… Well… You see, the thing is, Naruto…"

"There are people heading this way who want to capture you for whatever reason," Araki interjected. "They are no more than seven miles away from here by now, and are heading our direction on an intercept course. Within an hour, they will be upon us. Had I not come, there is a strong possibility that they might have come upon you instead."

Naruto went on guard. "What do they want with me?" he said. "How do you know all of this? And more importantly—tell us, exactly _who _are you? You're no ordinary monk, that's for sure."

Araki frowned. "Who I am is of no concern of yours," he said. "I used to be somebody else… but that was a long time ago. Now, I serve the Buddha by following the paths he has set for me."

Naruto stared daggers into the man. "Bull shit. I don't believe that as much as you want me to. Give me an honest answer, or so help me, I'll—"

Hinata slapped Naruto on the back of his head. "We don't have time for this!" she shouted. "Naruto, there's something very wrong going on here! For once, give someone the benefit of the doubt! Now, would you please shut up and listen?"

He opened his mouth, then shut it before he could say anything more that would make her angry. Sometimes, they would butt heads, but he knew enough to listen to her when she got like this.

"Thank you," she said. She blew a strand of hair out of her eyes; in the back of her mind, a stray thought told her that she needed to get the bangs cut. "Araki-san, please tell us both what you know, and what you suspect."

Araki nodded. "You're the brains of the two of you, aren't you?"

Hinata allowed herself a small smile. "Of course. But please… tell us what we're up against."

The monk sighed. "Right down to business," he said. "Very well. As I told you, I travel all over the place in my duties. We monks have almost unlimited ability to travel through borders between countries, since there's always some minor war or skirmish wherever you go. Shinobi, it seems, _love _to kill each other.

"Last month, I was in Earth country, visiting a small village that I go by occasionally. There, I heard a rumor of a pair of people who had passed through recently. At first, I thought nothing of it. But later that week, I heard mutterings of something that disturbed me somewhat; the Jinchūriki of the Gobi had disappeared after some battle with two unknown assailants. From what I had heard, the Rock village simply thought it a terrorist attack. They had no great love for the man, though he was a good political tool. In the end, they let him go without too much of a fuss.

"I didn't give it much thought, not until just now. Two men of similar description are coming this way, at _this exact minute, _and they have the host of the seven-tailed beast. All of the facts—the men in cloaks abducting jinchūriki, both in such a short timeframe—point to only one thing: someone out there is hunting the Bijuu, and they have the capabilities to hire extremely high-skilled shinobi to do it for them."

Hinata looked panicked. "This isn't good," she understated. "We need to go! If these two are strong enough to capture an older, more experienced jinchūriki, we don't stand a chance!"

Araki nodded in agreement. "I concur. The Kyuubi is too great a resource to Konoha to be allowed to fall into enemy hands. The best thing to do right now is to make haste for territory more tightly controlled. Here, in the wilderness, we have no backup, no chance to make a retreat. We have a small window of opportunity before they detect us; after that, we'll be in for a fight that we might not be able to win."

"He's right," Hinata said. "We don't know what we're up against, and we're both already tired! If they find you and recognize you, we could be in more trouble than we can handle!"

Naruto let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. "Running probably is the smart thing to do," he said.

"Yes," Hinata said. "Come on, let's—"

Naruto held up a palm. "I said it was the _smart _thing to do, Hinata. I didn't say it was the _right _thing to do."

"Don't play games, boy!" Araki snapped, stepping close in to Naruto. "You have no idea what you're in for! Sometimes, you have to run so you can fight another day! Now, I'm going to take you back to where you belong, whether you fuss or not. Or have you forgotten how easily I threw you a half mile without touching you? Do you want to test me? _Do _you, Uzumaki? You have no idea who you are dealing with."

He turned abruptly toward the woods. "Now, unless there's anything else you have to say?"

Righteous rage crept into Naruto's voice. "Oh, hell yeah, there's something else I have to say!" he shouted. "You expect me to run? Just who do you think you _are _to be ordering _me _around? Do you have any idea who I even _am?"_

"Oh, I know _exactly _who you are!" Araki roared. "I know what you could become! I have seen horrors you couldn't even begin to imagine! I know what you could eventually do with that beast in you, Uzumaki. But right now, I have to at least make sure that I know who controls it! If it falls into malicious hands, who knows what horrors could befall the world?"

"Nobody made it your responsibility to keep an eye on me!" Naruto said. "I met you a half hour ago—just go on your way, and get the hell out of my life! I can handle myself just fine. If you're so scared—"

Araki disappeared, then had Naruto by the throat and off the ground before he could blink. "_**I. FEAR. NOTHING!**_" Naruto grasped at Araki's wrist with hands, his legs kicking ineffectually in the air as his face turned red from panic and a lack of fresh air. "There is nothing in this world that could even dream of frightening me! I have seen the darkness of an eternal night! I have created battlefields of corpses! I have fought the gods themselves, and made them cower in terror! And by those very gods, I _do not fear men!"_

In a flash Hinata had her sword drawn and at Araki's throat. She had just barely pulled her stroke enough not to dig into his flesh. As it was, the very edge was microscopically touching his skin. She contemplated the monk coldly for a moment with her fully activated Byakugan before she spoke. "If I didn't think that you could kill me any time you wanted," she said softly, "and I didn't have respect for holy men, your throat would be open right now. But you know things that you aren't telling us, and you obviously aren't a mere monk. So, I'll give you _one warning _before I get serious: put my boyfriend down, or I will _cut your fucking heart out!"_

Araki thought for a moment… then dropped Naruto onto the sand without ceremony. Hinata crouched by him as he gasped for breath. "Fine," he said, his tanned face slightly flushed. "Fine, you two do what you wish. I don't care anymore. Who am I but a monk? Not even a priest!" He pointed a rigid digit at the Hyuuga. "I'll come by again tomorrow to find your corpse and give you your last rights. The Uzumaki, however, will most likely not have a body for me to find. They will have him, and there will be not a soul in the world who will have known what happened to you."

"…Except for you," Hinata pointed out quietly.

The monk nodded. "Except for me," he agreed. He turned from them and made his way into the woods.

"And you have no qualms about just leaving us, huh?" Hinata asked sarcastically.

Araki stopped, but didn't turn. "As I said," he said coldly. "I am a monk… not a priest." He slowly left the pair alone and, truth be told… terrified.

"Mo—moth—mother _fucker!" _Naruto rasped as soon as he was able to. His throat felt tender to the touch. He knew that he would have one hell of a bruise the next day… if he lived to see the next day, anyway.

"Are you ok, Naruto?" Hinata asked anxiously.

Naruto rubbed his neck. "I'll be fine," he said between steadying breaths. "Nothing hurt here but my pride."

"I—I can't believe that a monk, a _monk _would act like that!" she said. "I mean…"

Naruto shook his head. "You heard him boast," he said. "I don't know how much of it was bluster, and how much was bragging… but he's strong. Stronger than us_, easy_. If he is running from whoever it is coming this way, maybe—maybe you should go, too."

Hinata couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Let me get this straight," she said mildly. "You want me to go and leave you, _just _when things get interesting? Are you out of your mind?"

Naruto had to smile, but he slipped back to serious quickly. "Not out of my mind, no," he said. "Not the last time I checked. But if you get hurt, I don't know how I could live with myself."

She sighed and lightly slapped him on the back of his head. "Stop with that corny stuff," she said. "Don't forget, Naruto… Technically, without you using the Kyuubi's power, I'm just as strong as you are. Maybe even a little bit stronger, come to think of it. You'll have twice as much chance of succeeding with me than without me. I _dare _you to try to send me away."

The host of the Kyuubi laughed. "Nothing could be more useless, could it?" he asked. "Fine, stay. If I'm going to rescue this girl, I could use all the help I can get. Which reminds me… how much farther do they have to go before they get here? And where are they now?"

Hinata turned her concentration away from him for a second. "They are less than five miles away from us," she said, "and they will be here in less than—three quarters of an hour.

"They're sticking to the shore, which means the sand is slowing them down some. It seems that the puppet-person is going at its top speed right now, while its blond partner is simply keeping pace with it."

"Puppet? Who's controlling it, him?"

Hinata shook her head. "No," she said. "There's someone… some_thing… _in the outer puppet. There is what appears to be a puppet on the _inside _pulling the strings on the _outside. _I don't know how it's doing that; maybe it's being controlled remotely? I can't confirm anything on that front right now. But I _can _confirm that the girl inside of the outer shell is in a pretty bad state right now. Unless she gets medical attention soon, she might not make it through the day."

Naruto stood up. "We don't have much time," he said darkly. He formed four Kage Bunshin. "Go and pack our gear," he instructed them. "Hide what we don't need, but bring us a fresh pair of clothing each and all of our combat supplies, including the first aid kit."

"Got it," one of the clones said. He lead the rest of his artificial four-man squad into the trees to carry out his original's owners.

"I never get over how surreal it is to talk to myself," he quipped.

Hinata groaned. "This is no time for jokes!" she said. "We need a plan! Come on, Naruto—think of something!"

Naruto closed his eyes. "I know," he said. "Just trying to relieve some of the pressure." He put his hands on the back of his head and walked around Hinata in a tight circle. "Ok… plan. Plan. I need a plan." He began widening his circle while she looked upon him in bemusement. He suddenly turned his head toward her. "Tell me more about this puppet. It may be important. For whatever reason, it seems to be the key factor in this whole thing, from what I've heard."

Hinata nodded in agreement, and told him everything she had told the monk. "I don't know what its deal is," she finished, "but it looks to me as if it was the one doing all of the fighting—the guy with it doesn't even have a scratch on him. It's a possibility that he has somehow mastered a form of mind-controlled puppetry, but I don't know… he occasionally talks to it, and it seems to respond independently. I can't read the puppet's lips, but the man keeps saying something about 'art', whatever that means."

Naruto put his face in his hands. "God," he said. "I can't put the pieces together. I just can't see the big picture. If I was Shikamaru, I probably would have figured this out by now. But he's a thousand times smarter… than…" A curious look of epiphany crossed his face.

"What?" Hinata asked. "What is it?"

"I wonder…" he said softly. "Maybe… yes, that could work."

It was then that the Bunshin came back, loaded with supplies. "Oh, thanks," Hinata said as she accepted a top and her sandaru from one of her lover's clones.

"No problem!" he said cheekily. "Maybe you can thank me later more—" The sentence, sadly, was not to finish. Hinata's fist crunched cruelly into the copy's face, dispersing it.

"Hey!" Naruto said as his other proxies looked on nervously. "I'm gonna need those!"

Hinata looked at the bona fide article. "Such a shame," she said through grit teeth. "Because they all are starting to look like punching bags to me."

Naruto held up placating hands. "No, no! I have an idea, but I need all the clones I can get if this is going to work!" Crossed his fingers in a seal. "**Tajuu: Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**" he called out. In a heavy cloud of smoke, about a thousand more clones appeared on the beach around them.

"What are you planning?" Hinata asked. "Why are you wasting your chakra with this many clones outside of a fight?"

"He's not wasting it!" one of the clones said indignantly. "He's actually got a plan this time!"

"Yeah!" another said. "Trust him! This could work!"

Hinata shook her head. Despite it being a joke, his comment earlier about taking to his clones was accurate—sometimes it _was _somewhat surreal. "Fine," she relented. "What's this great plan of yours?"

Naruto smirked. "I have no idea," he said. "Ask them."

"Ask—Naruto, just what in the hell are you playing at?" she asked.

"I figure, if using clones can help with my training, they can also help me with my thinking. With this technique, I can think a thousand times more quickly, or at least the equivalent. If all of them focus on coming up with different ideas, at least one or two of them should be effective, right? Hell, we can string three or four ideas together to make a foolproof trap for those two, even!"

She stared at him, dumbfounded. "That's… that's bloody _brilliant,_" she whispered. "Why haven't you done anything like this before?"

Naruto shrugged. "It just never came up," he said. "I have a lot of chakra, but there's no way I can do this all day. I'm on a pretty tight time limit, actually, so I need you to tell me when we have only five minutes before those cloaked guys get here. Whatever happens, I need _at least _five minutes to work our strategy out and get into position."

Hinata nodded. "You heard the man!" she yelled at the clones. "Get those brains working on how to save our asses! You barely have half an hour to think of a way to take those two down and save the girl!"

One of the clones from inside the pack laughed. "Didn't you know, Hinata-chan? Rescuing damsels in distress is our specialty!"

Some of the other clones laughed, some groaned. "In that case, get to work!" she ordered.

"Yes, ma'am!" they all said as one. Again, as one, they began talking to each other in hushed voices, bouncing ideas off of each other. They all knew what their supplies were, what their strengths and weaknesses were. Honestly, Hinata was quietly impressed that Naruto could adapt the Kage Bunshin in such a way. If he could pull this off… if this worked, she'd never question him in the field again.

She kept a part of her awareness on the pair quickly coming toward them on the beach. As they got closer, Hinata noticed more and more about them. For instance, she noticed that the arm on the outer doll wasn't moving as efficiently as it should have to keep balance. That, maybe, was why it was lagging. If it were a real shinobi, he could have covered the miles in less than a minute or so.

The head, too, was damaged. The left cheek looked like it had been clawed at by some sort of talon, and the shell's hull appeared as if it had been stomped on by something large. If it moved any faster than it was, there was a good chance that it would have fallen apart at the seams. Whoever it was controlling the thing, he had just barely won whatever battle he'd been a part of, and probably wouldn't have had it not been for his partner.

Hinata heard several pops every minute as the clones dispelled themselves to send whatever thoughts they had had back to their original. Naruto kept a running commentary that reflected his inner thoughts: "Okay… that's a good one… No, that would hurt the girl… What? That's just _stupid, _what was I thinking?... But where would I get a Rain umbrella?... Ok, that could work, but I don't feel like dying… That's just _ridiculous, _I don't know anything about senbon!" He cast a glance at Hinata. "Is this what it's like listening to me sometimes?"

She smiled. "Sometimes," she agreed.

His eyes shot up suddenly as another clone uploaded a thought. "Now, _that's _an idea, but we'd have to be careful…" This went on for a time, Hinata all the while keeping careful track of their foes on their way.

"Naruto?" she said, finally. "You don't have any more time. In five minutes, they'll be close enough to sense us, and at the rate they're moving, will be on us in less than eight. We need to do this _now _while we still have time on our side."

Naruto nodded. "Thanks for all your hard work!" he said to his clones. He held up a half ram seal and dispelled the remaining clones. He wobbled on his feet—having the collective consciousnesses of over six hundred people rush into your head would make anyone woozy.

Hinata caught him before he could fall. "Well?" she asked.

Naruto rubbed his forehead. "That was some kind of rush," he said dazedly. "But… I think I got it. It'll be dangerous as hell, and a few kinds of stupid, but I think… if we're lucky… we can pull it off."

Hinata let him go as he regained his feet. "Well, don't keep me in suspense," she said. "What did you come up with?"

As quickly as possible, he told her what was on his mind. "You're… you're _crazy!_" she hissed. "That'll never work!"

"Of course it will!" Naruto said. "We just have to be really lucky!"

"Since when have we _ever _been lucky, Naruto? This can't work!"

Naruto shook his head. "Have some faith, Hinata. We can pull this off! Just believe in me! We can _do this!_"

She looked him level in the eye. "This had _better _work, Uzumaki Naruto, or I swear I'll kill you."

He just smiled and kissed her on her forehead. "It'll work. Just trust me. You know what to do?"

Hinata nodded. "Yeah, I got it. You get everything ready. I'll take my position." She kissed his lips briefly. "Don't die on me," she said softly.

Naruto grinned confidently. "Hey, come on—it's _me. _I'm untouchable!"

Hinata sighed. "Don't get too cocky out there, ok? I'll get nervous."

"I'll be careful, ok?" Naruto said. "I promise, as long as you promise the same."

She nodded. "Promise. Now, get to work! We don't have much time."

Naruto bolted into action. She moved into her post as he set about with the necessary preparations. _This has to work, _she thought. _This has to… it means too much to Naruto for it _not _to._

_It has to work.

* * *

_

Well, there you have it people. I've introduced a new character today, and he will be very, _very _important as the chapters go on. I hope I haven't disappointed you with the minimal action in this chappie-but I promise you that there will be plenty more next.

From what I have been able to find, it appears that Han and Fuu, the hosts of the five- and seven-tailed demons, respectively, were the first captured by Akatsuki, which is why they are mentioned here. Not much is known about them, so I'm gonna feel pretty good about making crap up as I go along.

Speaking of which, I have to get something off of my chest: I began this fic and came up with a lot of the backstory well before it was revealed what the majority of the tailed beasts actually were. Seriously, did ANY of you think that the Hachibi would be an ox/octopus hybrid? Hell no; we thought it'd be a snake. Well, I gotta say, a water-horse- a dolphin-horse crossbreed-just breaks my brain. So I'm going to ignore, for the sake of continuity in Rising Star, that it _is _a water-horse and pretend that it's a five-tailed dog. Any questions? No? Ok, good.

Hope you enjoyed the story. Review, please. Stop and smell a flower somewhere.

Take care.

dead witch.


	27. Two on Two

A/N: Man, it seems like I've been working on this chapter forever! I started on this a couple days after the previous chapter went online, but for like a solid week I could only write a hundred or so words at a time. Then—_bam!—_I wrote about nine thousand words in the past three days. My fingers actually hurt right now .

Announcement time: I am still working on Second Chances, but I've put my other fic ideas on the backburner. Instead, what I'm gonna do is begin a series of one-shot lemons. Basically, I'll take two characters from the canon Narutoverse and figure out a good scenario with them. There will be no yaoi, and absolutely _no _crackfic ideas—I.E., nothing even resembling Orochimaru/Hinata/Naruto/Kabuto or anything twisted like that. As long as it's even remotely plausible, I'll explore it. I'm asking for some suggestions with pairings and scenarios, so give me ideas, readers!

If any of you need a beta, I'm advertising my services… Just saying.

Oh, BTW, I just discovered the "Punk Goes" album series… Oh god. I have just found a new musical love affair.

That's it! Read and review!

* * *

**Chapter 27**

"This is never going to work," Hinata hissed at Naruto from her hiding place. She knew that the pair of kidnappers weren't nearly close enough to hear her yet, but the instinct to whisper was too strongly ingrained in her.

"It'll work," Naruto growled from under cover of the leaves and scrub he'd gathered to make a hatch to cover a hole in the ground.

"It's too crazy to work."

"It'll work."

"Too many things can go wrong."

"It'll work."

"We don't know their capabilities."

"It'll work."

"We—"

"I said _it'll work!_" Naruto said. "It's too late for second guesses by now, Hinata! Just relax—well, _don't _relax. But quit worrying! Everything will be fine, ok?"

Hinata sighed. "I guess… but if this _does _work, I don't want you bragging forever to everybody how _I _was the one with the glass half empty, ok?"

Naruto grinned from under his disguise. "Got it," he said. "This is just between you and me."

Their short bickering came to a halt; their enemies were getting ever-closer. Soon, there would be no more room for words… only actions.

Only violence.

"I love you," Naruto said quickly.

"I love you, too," Hinata replied. "Now shut up and get ready to kick some ass."

Naruto had to smile. "Got it," he said, then fell silent. There was no more need for words between them. All that was needed anymore was resolute conviction.

The minutes passed slowly. Time always seems to dilate when one is motionless and waiting on something unseen. So it seemed to Naruto as he waited on the unknown foes coming their way. In his mind, seconds stretched to minutes… minutes, to hours… continents rose and fell, suns were born and executed in blazes of brilliant glories…

Footsteps. Footsteps rapidly approached them, just outside their field of vision. Sand was rapidly being scuffed up by two sets of feet running in different running patterns. Faint bickering grew more loudly as the pair grew closer and closer.

Finally, they came close enough for Naruto to get his first real good look at them. The first to enter their field of vision was the blond. His hair was pulled into a scraggly kind of ponytail/topknot with some bangs hanging over his eyes. He looked quite young; he was no more than sixteen or seventeen or so. Despite his relative youth, Naruto knew that he would have to be skilled to be on a team sent out to hunt down jinchūriki. He wore a hitai-ate from Iwagakure with a slash through the center.

Close behind him was one of the strangest things that either Naruto or Hinata had ever seen: A large humanoid puppet followed the blond kidnapper. A cloak similar to the real person's was adorned around its hull, but it hung in tatters. Through the gashes in the garment Naruto could see the wood beneath. Large cracks were obvious, and the sound of wood grinding and splintering as it moved could be heard before it could be seen. It was moving about on its legs, but needed the support of the left arm to stay upright. Its right arm below the elbow was completely gone, obviously destroyed in battle.

A red panel in the shape of a giant mask on its back was missing nearly everything above the nose. A giant whip—or _something—_protruded from its mouth and hung at its side, prodding into the ground with every other step, apparently to help it keep balance. Altogether, from what Naruto could see, it was being held together by string, spit, and pure will. Structurally, there was no way it could make it another few days—hell, perhaps even a few _miles—_ in the condition it was in.

They had come into from around a small corner of trees. As soon as the blond came into sight, he saw the condition of the beach and stopped dead in his tracks. "Woah, Sasori-sempai!" he shouted at the puppet just behind him. It tried to stop with a thud beside him, but couldn't halt its forward momentum by itself. The blond caught it by its shoulders _just _in time to prevent it from falling on its face.

The puppet straightened itself with the rigged arm, trembling slightly. "You fool!" it said with a man's guttural voice. "What is the big idea?"

The blond stepped to the side and pulled a device from a pocket. "Hmm… Sasori-sama, someone's been here recently… yeah. A lot of somebodies, from the look of it." He put the device to his eye—apparently, it was some kind of scope, or rangefinder. "Something like… at lease several hundred people were on this beach as recently as… two hours ago… yeah…" He pushed a button on its side. "No sign of them… no clues either…" He put the device back into his pocket. "Well, whatever. We're losing time just running back to base. Why don't you let me fly us there?"

The puppet bristled. "And admit that your art has any merit?" it shouted at its partner. "Deidara, do you _want _me to kill you?"

The blond—Deidara, apparently—simply turned his head and grinned at the contraption. "If you weren't crippled already, I'd take you seriously, Sasori-sempai," he gloated. "But you're too proud to come out of Hiruko to come get me… or let me help… so yeah…"

Sasori pointed its stump of an arm at Deidara. "Quiet, bozu! I already regret letting leader-sama assign you to me. When I fix this body, you and I will have a very serious conversation about _respect. _Then we'll see whose art is superior!"

Deidara chuckled. "I look forward to it," he said. "Until then, we have to hurry. We don't want little Bug-chan to die on us, yeah?" He frowned. "You know… seriously, Sasori-sempai, maybe I should take her. Then you could stop and fix up Hiruko a bit and catch up later?"

The tail appendage darted at Deidara's head. The man dodged to the side and up into a tree. "I guess I'll take that as a 'no', then?" he asked redundantly.

The puppet stiffened. "Just get your ass moving!" it barked. "Leader-sama expects us by day's end, and you aren't helping with all of this talking!"

Deidara sighed as he hopped out of the tree and onto the sand. "Just trying to lighten the mood," he said. "There's no need for you to blow up at me—"

The sand erupted from under him as he spoke. Great concussive force hit him as a gigantic cloud of sand and dust formed around him as one explosion after went off.

"_**DEIDARAAA!**_**"**Sasori shouted in panic as he saw his partner caught in the middle of a minefield.

"I'm ok!" a voice from above shouted. Naruto and Hinata looked up along with Sasori to see something that amazed the genin pair: Deidara was on a light grey hawkthat looked to be made of some sort of clay.

"Goddamn it!" Sasori shouted. "We're under attack!"

Deidara nodded as he grinned. "I know! And whoever it is is trying to blow us up! Irony is awesome, _yeah_!"

Sasori growled. "This is no time to appreciate art!" he said. "We have to find whoever it was who set those traps for us. When we find them… leave them to me. _Got it?_"

The blond terrorist shrugged. "Can I blow them up when you're done with them?" he asked.

The puppet-man considered for a moment. "If there are any pieces big enough by the time I'm through with them," he said, "I suppose so, I guess."

"Nice. Well, you're in charge… so, what do you want me to do?"

Sasori turned toward the forest. "If it were me," he said, "I would hide in there, from somewhere I could see the surroundings. If they knew that we were coming, then that means they know who we are. Deidara, flush them out. They will escape your bombs, probably, but I want to catch them when they try to get away. Destroy _everything _you see. Do what you have to do, but don't let me see any greenery, period, as far as the eye can see!"

Joy filled Deidara's face. "You mean it, Sasori-sempai?" he asked, a slight tremble in his tone. "I can cut loose and blow it all to smithereens?"

The puppet turned its head toward the heavens and sighed. _Kami, _he prayed silently to a pantheon he barely believed in anymore. _Why did you stick me with such a fool? Especially one so easily pleased? _He turned back to his partner. "Yes, Deidara-kohai," he said. "_Then _you can blow them up! Now, get to work!"

The man on the artificial bird snapped a smart salute. "You got it, Sasori-sama! One catastrophe-ridden forest, coming right up!" He reached his free hand into the pouch at his hip… then frowned, then his eyes widened in panic. "Um… Sasori-sempai? I think we have a problem… yeah…"

"_What?_"the puppet man roared. "What kind of problem could you _possibly _have?"

Deidara palmed his face, hard. "Well, ya see—I kinda used up most of my clay already when we caught the Nanabi, so… Um… I can make some C1s, like six of em, and maybe a C2, but if not I can do a whole C3… and then a C2, maybe. But that's the limit… after that, I'll be pretty useless… yeah."

Sasori looked up at his subordinate in stunned silence. This… this… _incompetent! _"I told you to bring two bags with you before we left!" he shouted, his stump of an arm flailing impotently in the air. "Why didn't you bring another bag? _Where's your other fucking bag?_"

Deidara paled. He knew that potential fury Sasori's wrath could bring. If he chose to leave his first line of defense and exit Hiruko, then there was no chance in all of the hells combined that he, with his clay shortage, could manage to fend him off. "I didn't think—Um, I thought I would only need o-one," he said. "This stuff is heavy, and hard to make! You have no idea how much work goes into my art!"

"_Fuck your motherfucking art!_" Sasori bellowed. "Just—Aargh, forget it! Do I have to do everything by myself? No, don't answer that, it was a rhetorical question, you simple bastard!"

Deidara gulped. He was not about to answer any questions Sasori had unless he thought that the man was serious about them. He knew full well where the man got most of his puppets… he would do well to not let the man's mind travel down roads that would prove rather… _unfortunate _for him. "Um… yeah…"

"I'll take care of this by myself," Sasori said. "You win—come and get the girl, _I'll _take care of our little pest problem."

Deidara nodded as the bird he rode upon descended toward where Sasori hobbled. "Um… Sasori-sempai, how do I know that the ground is safe to stand on? If it were me, I'd scatter bombs all over and trigger them when it was advantageous… Maybe getting me on the ground is the idea?"

Sasori sighed. "You moron!" he said. "I'm already standing on ground that had detonated! You of all people know that no bomb could survive intact in the same area of another bomb's explosion!"

A chastised expression hit the bomber. "Oh… Yeah, you're right," he said. "Ok, coming in!" The bird circled low and slow to land gracefully in front of Sasori on top of the disturbed sand. "All right, Sasori-sempai… Hand her over to my magnificent artwork!" The bird opened its beak wide, thick tongue dangling from the side.

"Magnificent? Bah! This isn't me admitting anything—I'm just using you, Deidara, same as any other puppet." His partner gulped; apparently, Sasori had already at least _entertained _ideas of turning him into one more of his dolls. "You get this to leader-sama, _now, _or heads will roll. Specifically, _your _head if you dawdle. Understood?"

Deidara nodded nervously. "Hai, Sasori-sempai!" he said. "Perfectly!"

Sasori ripped his tattered cloak into further shreds with his tail, then withdrew it into the monstrous mouth on his back. With a clack of gears and levers, the mouth separated into individual segments, exposing the two bodies inside that Naruto knew would be there, thanks to Hinata's intel… one young green-haired girl, and one red-haired puppet of indeterminate age.

The larger puppet suddenly went dead and limp as the smaller one inside collapsed. It hoisted the girl roughly in his arm, holding her like a sack of rice. "I hope you understand," it said in a more mellow voice than Hiruko's, "that I really _will _kill you if you somehow manage to mess this up. Consider this your… _initiation _into Akatsuki, and be thankful that you had not been paired with Kuzaku. As annoying as you are, I am positive that he would have killed you within a _week. _So shut _up, _follow _orders, _and the next time I tell you to bring _two _bags instead of _one, _for your sake, _pay attention!_"

"Yes, yes! I get it, Sasori-sempai! Now hurry, we don't know where the enemy is… I don't want anything to happen to you because of me!" He jumped off of the back of the hawk-shaped clay statue and approached his senior.

"Your devotion to me is to be commended," Sasori said dryly.

Deidara smirked. "Devotion, nothing—I just don't want Leader-sama kill me if I let you die!"

"…Indeed. Just take the girl while I take care of our little… pest problem. I'll provide backup while you escape."

"Eh…" He looked around and peered into the woods. "Um… Sasori-sempai? If you're right, and the enemy is close by… aren't you worried that they can hear everything we're saying? Isn't that, I don't know… a _bad _thing?"

Sasori chuckled. "Don't you worry about that, Kohai. Whether they know or not, do you think there is _anybody _who can slip past me?"

Deidara frowned. "I suppose not," he said. "Happy hunting, sempai!" He held out his arms to accept the girl in Sasori's. Sasori roughly and without ceremony shoved her towards Deidara.

"Take her," he said menacingly, "_directly _there. Leader-sama has had the ceremony prepared for the last three days. Three of ours are actually there. If I cannot make it in person, I will send my proxy."

As soon as the girl was in the blond nuke-nin's arms, a geyser of syrup erupted from the sand directly below Sasori, blasting him into the air and coating him with a mixture of sand and viscous fluid.

"_Sasori-sama!_"Deidara shouted in shock as his mentor went flying into the air and landed back on the sand with a wet thud. The blond leapt onto the hawk's back as it flew into the air.

Naruto grinned from his hiding place—one of Sando's lessons on storing elemental techniques in scrolls was paying for itself now, in spades. It had been a gamble, but one that had worked out. He'd suspected that Sasori would hang back, and had planted three syrup scrolls. That he had been in the perfect place to set one off was sheer luck.

The puppet-man got shakily to its feet; already, the mixture of syrup and grit was getting into its nooks and crannies, making movement difficult. "Just go, Deidara!" he shouted, gesturing jerkily at his subordinate. He looked down at the sand. "I'll take care of this myself!"

Deidara looked unsure, but nodded. "Hai, Sasori-sempai!" he said. "As you command!" The hawk broke from its hovering station to take off over the treetops.

A blur broke out from under cover in the forest floor to chase after the bird, man, and girl. Before it could go too far, however, a group of puppets, ten strong, blocked him from being able to advance any further.

Each of the puppets looked human in shape, though some had obvious modifications from the base model. _What? This many puppets… this quickly? I thought the syrup would give me some more time! _Naruto looked back through the trees quickly to glance at where the puppet that had come out of Hiruko was standing. According to the plan between him and Hinata, though, it was studded with over a dozen katana stuck up to the hilt, most of which were located in the chest and abdomen. His stomach dropped as his blood turned to ice.

Hinata, though, didn't know how much trouble he was in; she was crowing out loud. "I got him, Naruto!" she shouted. "I got him!"

He cleared his throat. "Um… Hinata?" he said anxiously. "I'm probably gonna need a little _help here!_"He dodged to the side as several weapons, techniques, and explosives homed in on his location, then into the air as hard and fast as possible _just _ahead of the forefront of the attacks.

The shockwave of the initial attacks and explosives hit Naruto mid-flight and knocked him off-target. He flew deeper into the woodlands head over heels, losing any sense of orientation as up quickly became down in a vicious, gut-wrenching tumultuous gyroscope.

In the back of his mind, a stray thought hit him as he lost all sense of direction: _Wait a second… those puppets made hand signs… puppets can't use ninjutsu… huh._

His musings were cut short as he hit the canopy of the trees and crashed down through twigs and branches, wood splintering with devastating cracks and snaps as he tore them violently from trunks. Luckily for him, he didn't fly directly into a tree, or he could very well have been killed.

He hit the ground at a sharp angle on his shoulders and skipped over the loam like a stone. The wind was knocked out of his lungs and he felt as if he had dislocated his left shoulder, or at least torn some muscle, but he had to push past the pain, push beyond everything he'd ever known about pain and ignore it for the moment.

He landed on one foot while going backwards and tried to plant it for leverage, but he was going too fast to stop on a dime. He slid and slipped over loose dirt and dead leaves and fell forward on his hands and knees. "I just _had _to get us in this, didn't I?" he mumbled to himself. He didn't have time to answer the rhetorical question—the small swarm of puppets broke through the trees and rushed at him.

_Damn puppets! _He growled. _One of these has to be the puppet master! There's no way he could fight in a forest without being here—a clear line of vision is needed to properly manipulate the dolls, that's pretty much the only weakness against a skilled practitioner. But _which one _is it?_

He leapt straight up and caught a branch with his uninjured arm as three of the puppets converged onto his position, one with a rather large sword, the other two with some kind of spear protruding from under their wrists. Each blade entered the ground an instant after Naruto leapt above them, just a _little _too late to catch him.

Before they could regroup, Naruto looked down and put his hands together through a flurry of seals. "**Fūton****: Daitoppa!**" he called out, a great wave of wind pressure escaping from his mouth and sealed hands to impact the trio of puppets on the ground. They were crushed into splinters before the puppeteer (whoever it was) could have them get out of the way.

The jutsu had the added effect of propelling Naruto almost straight up into the air with the opposite force of the blasting current. Up, up, up he went, until he was nearly forty feet above the tallest tree. The view gave him his relative position. He couldn't see Hinata through the leaves, and she obviously wasn't on the beach anymore…

His musings were interrupted as five of the remaining puppets suddenly came rocketing up toward him from the ground. He gulped, but remained calm. He had a good way of dealing with them… he just hoped that it would work…

He focused his wind chakra all around him with as much concentration as he could muster. He still wasn't adept at changing his chakra nature into physical form yet, though he was getting better at utilizing jutsu that involved air pressure, but he and Sando had developed a taijutsu technique for midair battle over the past couple weeks, _just _in case something like this ever happened.

He put his strategy into effect as soon as the first puppet came within feet of him. With intense concentration, the air pressure around him subtly changed to become much more dense. The three inches around his skin seemed to ripple as the atmospheric pressure shot through the roof.

The first puppet to attack him did so with a pair of tiger hook swords. They came at his neck from both sides, intended to decapitate him. Naruto made no move to stop the blades—he didn't need to. They stopped inches from his neck, well outside the danger zone. "Surprise, mother fucker," he said to the doll.

He held his hand out to the side and focused the wind currents around his body to flow in a certain way. From inside his jacket the Kazejin flew to his palm and activated in an instant with a effort of will. Before the puppet master could have his doll attack again, Naruto had taken his sword and sliced it in half at the waist, then again from groin to skull. With a kick at its center, the pieces went flying away, revealing gears and gadgets inside that it would never use again.

He had no time to celebrate his victory, though, as several more dummies were quickly approaching. The closest one rising up from behind him. Naruto focused the pressurized air that surrounded him to his chest and knees and, releasing it for a split second like a valve, shot backwards a few feet. The puppet passed him in front, and Naruto had a perfect opportunity that he couldn't miss. Taking the sword's hilt in both hands, the first cut off the head, then slashed from one shoulder to the hip. This puppet, too, would never be used again.

Two down… three to go.

The remaining puppets were flying at him at an angle in a triangle formation. They held each other's hands, so remained together easily. These puppets seemed to be all based on female models. For a split second, he had to fight off a chivalrous impulse to _not _attack a woman.

_No! They're dolls! DOLLS!_

He grabbed the main intact section of the puppet he had just disassembled and stuck it with two kunai… kunai that had explosive tags attached, that is. He made a snap judgment and hurled the doll, with a kick and a shove, directly at the center of the puppets' formation.

They split apart, though their fingers seemingly connected by wire—_So, that was what they were supposed to do, _Naruto thought idly as the tags reached ignition and blew the trio into smithereens. The shield of wind pressure protected him from debris, although the concussive force did send him flying once again. He was closer than safe for a single tag—_two _tags had, perhaps, been overdoing it a bit… but anything worth doing, Kakashi had once told him, was worth _over_doing. _Too bad… it might have been interesting seeing what they could do. It seems, though, that that was a little bit too easy…_

Luckily for him, he had been in perfect position in relation to the explosion to send him soaring, more or less, back to the area that he had left Hinata. He hit the ground again, but with the wind shield around him, he was able to control his descent much more gracefully than before.

"Hinata? _Hinata!_" he shouted the instant he landed. He looked around all over—he had landed just outside the line of trees that separated the forest from the beach, though he was standing in scrub grass, not sand.

Hinata didn't reply; instead, yet _another _of the puppets burst into view about twenty yards away on the beach grass. It skidded to a stop in the loose soil, but charged Naruto as soon as it was able to cancel its momentum. It reared an arm back and up, the sleeve of its robe falling to its shoulder. A scythe-looking hook popped from the exposed wooden forearm. When it had closed half the distance, it flung its arm forward; unexpectedly, the hook detached from the arm and flew at Naruto's face directly. The instant that it was released, it unfolded into a triple-sectioned collapsible shuriken, whizzing dangerously swiftly at his exposed neck.

He leaned to the side, and just barely managed to get out of harm's way, but he couldn't run away or juke to the side without slipping in the sandy soil. He had no choice but to awkwardly put his hand to the ground to keep from falling down entirely, but couldn't react in time to counterattack when another scythe/hook flashed from its other arm and was thrust straight at his eye as the puppet continued its rush.

Time seemed to slow dramatically for Naruto. He realized that this was the very same sensation that he'd felt all those months ago when he had caught his friend, Youichi, in the forest after graduation… after he'd been cut in half, a result of saving his life._**I! CAN! DO! THIS! **_he thought to himself in panic. He didn't know how he'd entered this state of mind, but he wasn't going to question it in the middle of a battle, especially not now.

He moved… moved… much too slowly. The hook was ten inches from his face… nine… seven…

He was leaning backwards… neck falling… head tilting… legs crumpling…

It just… wasn't… enough.

He felt a fear and rage well up inside of him. For the first time since the battle of the Wave against Haku, he absolutely felt the presence of the demonic chakra inside of him. Could he reach it in time? Could he tap that energy, that power, before his brain was punctured?

He tried… he touched it…

One inch.

Not enough time.

_I love you, Hinata._

"**Hakke Kuushou!**" Naruto snapped back to reality as Hinata's voice filled his ears. The puppet was blown away in pieces as something impacted it. Naruto righted himself and looked to his left to see Hinata in the classic Jyuuken pose, an open palm held in front of her.

"New trick?" he asked shakily, his knees slightly wobbly.

She shook her head. "No. Old trick. Just a new dog."

Naruto shook his head to get some of the cobwebs out. Every time his mind went into that hyper mode, he had a hell of a headache for hours afterward. "Well, thanks. I would have been dead without you."

She smiled slightly as she took up a protective position next to him. "I know," she said. "Where's Deidara?" she asked.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "I lost him!" he growled. "Son-of-a-bitch puppets distracted me, he gave me the slip. Is he within range of your Byakugan?"

She focused in the direction she knew he was heading, west. "Yes," she said. "He's about eight miles away, and is making good time. He'll be out of range soon. If you're going to be able to catch him, _now _would be the time to leave."

Naruto nodded. "And what about that puppet guy… Sasori? I thought you had him!"

Hinata's eye twitched. "Don't start with me," she said. "I thought I got him in his vital zone… but he somehow switched places with another puppet. It had to be a reaction technique, because I didn't give him any warning before I speared him with my swords."

"But where is he?" Naruto pressed. "He has to be around here somewhere!"

She nodded in solemn agreement. "He is coming this way, right now," she said. "I watched him assault you from the ground, and I had almost caught up to him before you blew yourself back here. Naruto, he has a mechanism on his chest that lets him control the puppets, and I haven't seen that he has any kind of weakness. I honestly don't think that we'll be able to capture him with syrup again."

"Well, what do you suggest?" Naruto asked loudly. "I hope you have an idea, because I'm all out! If he does that to me again, I don't think I can beat him!"

Hinata checked the sword at her waist—she had long since stored her first blade given to her by Gekkou inside of it, so only had one katana that she needed to carry—to see if it was loose in its scabbard. "I have an idea… though you probably aren't going to like it very much."

"What is it?" Naruto asked warily.

She looked into the forest. "Puppet masters rely on chakra strings to control their puppets. With the Jyuuken, I can cut those strings. If I play my cards right, I… I _think _I can beat this guy."

Naruto shook his head vehemently. "You're crazy, Hinata!" he snapped. "Who knows how many puppets he has?"

Hinata locked eyes with him. There was nothing but confidence in them. "_I _do," she said. "There are scrolls on his back. I can see through the paper and I see the seals written them. Assuming all of them are filled except for the ones you just took out, and the one caught in your syrup trap… I only have two hundred and fifty or so to worry about. Nothing that I can't handle."

Naruto's jaw went slack as his eyes nearly bulged. "Tw—two _hundred? _I just now nearly got my ass handed to me by _one! _No way I'll let you handle this alone!"

Hinata grabbed him by the front of his open jacket and pulled him close, a growl deep in her throat. "I'm not _you,_" she said, "and I'd appreciate it if you didn't try to judge my skills by _your _standards. What's impossible for you could be a _cakewalk _for _me._" Her eyes bore into his with a cold intensity. "While you're standing here arguing with me, that Deidara asshole is getting away with the girl. I need you to _trust _me and get moving, _now. _You have no chance against Sasori, but I do. The matchup just works out like that. Now go! Trust me to survive, and _**GO!**_"

She let him go and pushed him away. The look on his face was completely priceless, though she didn't allow herself a smile. She needed him to understand that she was his equal… that she didn't depend on him anymore. "Go," she said again. "Save that girl's life. She's just like you… Save your sister, Naruto-kun." She put her palm on his chest. "Go… go!"

That brought Naruto to his senses. "Ye—yeah, ok… I'm going. Be careful, ok? Don't get hurt on me."

She nodded. "I won't. Now run. Run!"

Naruto kissed her, then turned and ran. He didn't look back.

Hinata's grip on her sword's hilt whitened her knuckles. "I hope I know what I'm getting into," she mumbled to herself. "Cause if I don't, this is going to hurt… a _lot._"

* * *

Naruto put every iota of chakra he had into running as quickly as he possibly could. He had no idea how far or fast that huge bird was, but knew that if he was going to catch up to him—wherever he was going, from what he'd overheard with the men who'd kidnapped the girl, there would be others from their group waiting. It was _imperative _that he catch up to Deidara before he was able to call for reinforcements.

The fact that he had no idea where the clay user was going, or where his headquarters were, or pretty much _anything _more about him than he was from Iwa, was discomforting. This battle, he knew, would be nothing like the ones he had previously participated in. This fight was personal in a way that hadn't existed before, not even in Wave Country.

Someone just like him had been taken. He couldn't allow that.

_West… he's traveling west. What's west? _The only thing that he could think of in that direction, besides nearly endless stretches of beach and forest, was River country some seventy or eighty miles distant from his location. The southern coastline, he knew, took a sharp turn south before turning west again. If one took and kept a due-west course, though, at a speed a shinobi could manage to get to the borders of River and Fire countries inside of six or seven hours… more, perhaps, if you were flying.

_Which Deidara was._

"Oh, shit…" Naruto grumbled as his legs pumped him over sand and scrub. "I'm in trouble already!" He willed his legs to move faster, faster, _faster. _"GogogoGO_GO__**GO**_ _**FASTER**_!" he yelled at himself, hoping beyond reason that simply yelling at his legs would make them perform better. Of course, as he knew, it didn't; no matter how much he verbally cajoled them, they wouldn't go beyond optimum performance. He had reached his maximum speed, the tree branches here were much too small and closely-packed to allow tree hopping…

A sudden flash of insight hit him: if he modified his wind shell to draw air from in front of him and around him—perhaps he could make a kind of artificial slipstream to help him move faster? He didn't have enough skill to get him off of the ground for true flight, not yet, but maybe it was possible to increase his land _and _midair maneuverability?

It was a hell of an idea to try something like this in the middle of a battle, and Naruto knew that if this didn't work, he could lose sight of Deidara for good. But he had to try.

A girl's life depended on him being _freakishly _lucky, after all.

The trees were a problem, but not one that was insurmountable. His natural agility and reaction time was excellent, nearly automatic. The trees posed no real threat.

He internally prioritized the things he absolutely _needed _to do: 1: Find Deidara's location and catch up to him, preferably without him knowing that he had a tail. 2: Beat the snot out of him without hurting the girl or putting her in further danger. 3: Get her to safety and try to heal what wounds with his first-aid kit he could before she died from them, and 4: Get away without any of the man's reinforcements catching wind of this whole thing. How he would manage to pull all of that off without getting himself killed—or putting the girl in even _more _danger—he didn't know… but he would have to find out.

_All right, _he thought, zigzagging between trees and boulders. _First things first… where the hell is this guy? _The easiest way to find him in the air, he knew, would be to leap into the air. The problem with that strategy was, of course, the fact that he would be just as visible to the man he was pursuing, and he would be many times more vulnerable. He could maneuver somewhat with his wind shell, but he didn't have _nearly _enough control to truly fly.

He didn't have any choice—the treetops were too thick with leaves for him to get any good view of the sky. There was only one thing for him to do, though he was loathe to admit: it was time to soar.

He put on a burst of speed and focused the wind chakra around him as much as he could. He gathered himself and, as soon as he saw a break in the trees, took one last calming breath and launched himself as hard as he could into the air at a near-45 degree angle.

His stomach felt as if it dropped from his gut as he flew through the air. _Holy… SHIIIIIIT! _He screamed silentlyas he rocketed through the air. The wind chakra around his body reduced the air friction around him, making him fly nearly twice as fast and far as he thought he ever could with a simple jump.

He didn't let panic overtake him for more than a second. He stabilized himself with small movements of his arms and prevented a pinwheel rotation from happening. He looked in all of the skies to the west, straining his eyes to their utter maximum.

The sky was, of course, a startling blue, but partial cloud coverage dotted the forested land with patches of darker green and brown. The fact that there were dozens of mountains in the north that he could probably have flown over by then didn't raise his spirits up any. Hell, he could have hidden in one of the low-hanging clouds themselves and gotten completely away already.

_Where is he… where is he… _Naruto said to himself over and over again, his mental capacities pushed as far as they could go, once again forcing every second in real time to seem like full minutes. He knew his prey was miles away… too far away, much too far away to be seen with the naked eye, most likely… but he had to try. He had to. He had no other choice.

_He's not there… or there… Damn it, how hard can it be to find a ten-foot tall hawk?_

He was now on his downward trajectory. He'd traveled much further in this one leap than he had thought he would. With one last desperate glance upward as he fell back into the trees and his perception of time returned to normal, he saw something near the horizon that looked _very _out of place.

"Got you, fucker!" Naruto crowed, now that he realized that the man was out of earshot. "Get ready! I'm coming to kick your ass!"

He found a road that headed almost due west. With this stroke of luck, he had no need to dodge between trees and such, and could _greatly _increase his speed, especially with the as-of-yet unnamed "shell of wind chakra" technique he was using. Absently, as his legs and arms pumped furiously, he realized that he really needed to give it a real name—after all, who would run in terror from the "master of the 'shell of wind chakra'" technique?

He turned his focus back to the matter at hand. If, from his first and only glance at Deidara from the air, his trajectory remained true, he was heading west-by-northwest at the moment. His current route would take him to the edge of the mountain range that bordered Fire and River countries. If he couldn't get to the terrorist before he crossed into the other country, if he fought on River territory… he would be in violation of their respective countries mutual treaty. To conduct a military operation, even a rescue mission, without the authorization of both nations' consent, could be viewed as a declaration of war.

Naruto grit his teeth. Politics and laws be damned—he would _not _let one of his own be taken like this!

The road began to curve gently north—perfect, actually, for that was the direction that Deidara was. So far, everything was working out in Naruto's favor. Now, all that he needed to do was… well, save the girl.

Easy.

The trees were finally beginning to thin out, fading from old oaks and elms to spiny pines of various breeds. They, in turn, began to become small and smaller as he moved away from old growth and into younger woods. Eventually, he broke out from under cover of the trees and was dashing through an open plain. Should his target turn around and look in his direction, there was no way that he would be missed. The dust plume he was kicking up could most likely be seen for miles and miles, maybe from the ground, but almost certainly from the air.

It was a risk that he would have to take. To slow down would mean doom for the girl in the clay hawk's mouth. But if he could somehow speed up, to accelerate to a level beyond what he was already barely managing… he might have a chance.

He focused once again on the shell around him. Wind manipulation, in its purest form, he knew, depended on taking ones chakra and _sharpening _it. Sure, air-pressure techniques were useful, but the true strength of his elemental affinity was held in its ability to cut—

_Cut!_

He suddenly understood what he had to do. He grabbed the Kazejin from his jacket and activated it. The bright beam of light extended with a sizzle as he held it out before him. _I hope this works…_ he thought desperately. He took a deep breath, then, with a mighty effort of will, brought the chakra sword above his head and slashed downward with all of the force and speed that he could muster.

The blade of the Kazejin seemed to fly _off _of the hilt it was attached to and, in a crescent-shaped wave of motion, blazed a linear path _directly _in line with where Deidara was going. The arc seemed to create a vacuum as it cut its path—a true slipstream where resistance had no meaning. As soon as Naruto entered this temporary void, he felt a surge of speed that he didn't even know possible. What had seemed impossible, before, now appeared like it could be done—he _would _catch up to Deidara, he _would _save the girl.

And he would do anything to make his goals a reality.

_Faster… faster! _He could barely breathe—though he was surrounded by wind chakra, there was only a finite amount of oxygen in it, and he had already almost run through it _already._

_No choice but to suck it up. Almost there… almost… almost…_

_There. _He looked up, and almost directly above him, some five or six hundred feet above him, was his prey. How he had moved fast enough to catch up, Naruto didn't know, though he suspected that he would pay for it, somehow, later on. The fact that he'd somehow run ten miles in… less than two minutes? Maybe two and a half?

_Can't worry now! _Naruto thought. _Can only act! _He ran for four more seconds, then stopped dead, gauged where the hawk in the sky would be in five seconds, then reactivated the Kazejin and, from his hip, sliced an arc into the sky. He knew that it shouldn't have worked—that it should have been _impossible—_but when he leapt up into the vacuum just after the blade made of wind sliced through the air, he felt as if he was somehow being _pulled _up into the air, instead of simply taking advantage of the void's lack of wind resistance. He didn't question it; instead, he just put it at the back of his mind as he turned his head up, up, up…

Then he was nearly there… nearly at the clay bird…

He was passing… Somehow, Deidara had detected him, most probably from the sound of the Kazejin vacuum wave—_hey, that's a pretty cool name for that one, Kazejin Shinkuuha—_and dodged to the side, just in time to avoid Naruto slamming into the underbelly of the hawk.

Deidara had turned his head to see Naruto whizz past him. Time seemed to slow down, though not in the mental way that Naruto was accustomed to by then—it was simply surreal to be this close to an enemy this high off of the ground.

He released the shell of wind just as he caught Deidara's eye. The look on the bomber's face was absolutely _priceless. _Naruto couldn't but help but say something as he caught the wingtip of the hawk and held onto it tightly with both hands. "Hello, there. You have something that doesn't belong to you. Give it to me before I have to kick your ass, please."

Deidara didn't waste any time in grabbing a kunai from somewhere on his person and hurling it at Naruto's face. The boy pushed himself down as the wing went up, making it miss him by mere inches and lodging in the clay. When the wing was on a downstroke, he pinched the hard clay in his hands, raised his legs straight ahead of him, and hurled himself at his foe with all of the strength in his arms.

Deidara's eyes widened in shock; nobody had _ever _desecrated his art like this! The little runt!

He dodged to the forefront of the bird's back as Naruto leapt at him with a kick. He smirked as the boy nearly fell off of the side, though he managed to catch a foot on the clay and stick with chakra. With this anchor, he was able to pivot around on his ankle into a defensive taijutsu form.

Deidara simply stood on the rear end of the bird's back, between the wings and tail, and stared daggers at the stowaway. His fists clenched tightly enough that Naruto could hear his knuckles pop from four feet away. "Well… this is pretty interesting, isn't it?" he said after a moment. He was adjusting his knees automatically with the rise and fall of the hawk's body to keep him from getting motion sick, but Naruto had no such experience—already, he was becoming queasy from the movement and, more than that, the height they were above the ground.

_Don't think about it… don't think about it…_

"Y-yeah," Naruto said nervously. He had not planned anything beyond. "Interesting is one way to put it… Deidara, right?"

The blond opposite him nodded curtly. "That's my name, kid… but who the fuck are you? And why the fuck are you chasing after me, hmm?"

Naruto's right knee buckled. He was as of yet unused to standing on the moving creature, and was becoming increasingly uneasy. He felt the bile in his stomach begin to bubble up and seep into his throat. With an effort of will, he forced it down. He couldn't afford to be sick this far up off of the ground. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto," he said with a feeble attempt to mask his anxiousness. "And I'm here to take that girl away from you. I can't let you have her." He rose once again to both feet, having fallen to one knee so that he would not fall over. "I have to ask you to give her to me. Now."

Deidara's eyes widened slightly, though a smile crossed his lips. "Hmm… wow, this has got to be my lucky day! Yeah, _most certainly _it's my lucky day!" He pointed on painted finger at Naruto. "I know your name! You're on the list!"

Naruto winced. "What list?" he asked.

The other blond chuckled. "Oh… nothing, nothing at all. I mean, if I told you and captured you, it wouldn't matter… but if I told you and you got away… then Leader-sama really _would _kill me. Yeah, I don't want that." He licked his lips in anticipation. "I didn't think that I'd fulfill my obligation this quickly, for sure."

Naruto frowned. "Well then… show me what you got, jerkass, but I don't think you'll be able to capture me that easily." He took a deep cleansing breath, then spat over the side of the flapping bird. "I've been trained by the best Konohagakure has to offer, and I have more than a few tricks up my sleeve. Come and get me."

Deidara hesitated… then a small smile crossed him. He began chuckling, then laughing heavily. Frankly, it was creeping Naruto out the way he laughed. "What's so funny? What's so funny, you freak?"

The bomber crossed his arms over his belly as he laughed. "You… you wouldn't g-get it," he said through chuckles. "Oh, man! This is hilarious! Who knew that fortune would smile on me so!"

Naruto brandished the Kazejin and eyed the older boy harshly. "How about you fill me in on the joke?" he suggested.

Deidara wiped a knuckle under an eye, apparently swiping a tear from his lid. "Well—I mean, karma doesn't go your way this heavily every day, you know? The list—three names were on it: yours, Kazeto Fuu's, and Ruudao Han's. From what our instructions say, each of us has an assigned target. Our organization pairs us up with partners to assist with the capture of the target… but in the end, it's the assigned person's responsibility.

"You, boy, were scheduled for capture in about two months from now, I think… yeah, two months… but I wasn't supposed to catch you. Do you know _who _was supposed to bring you down?"

Naruto gulped. "Is it anybody I know?" he asked lightly.

Deidara's grin twisted horrifically. "Know? Hell, I don't know if the two of you have ever met… but I can guarantee that you've heard his name before, at least. The man who's supposed to catch you is… _Uchiha Itachi._"

Naruto's blood ran cold. _Uchiha… Uchiha… _"Itachi, huh?" he said in an attempt at nonchalance. "Your crew has him as a member? Not bad… you could do worse."

Deidara's grin turned into a scowl. "I hate that mother fucker!" he shouted, his hair whipping in the high-altitude wind. "He has no appreciation for art—_none! _He made me look the fool, once, but we'll see how big a fool I am when I capture his prey out from under his nose! Oh, I can't wait to see the look on his face!"

Naruto leveled the tip of the Kazejin at Deidara's face. "And how do you intend to do that?" he asked.

A soft chuckle escaped Deidara's lips. "Oh… I'll blow you up until you can barely stand! Then, when you're barely alive, I'll just shove you in with this girl here… easy, yeah?"

Naruto shook his head. "There's one problem with that, maybe," he said.

Deidara put his right hand into the pouch at his hip. "Yeah? What's that?"

Naruto's grip on the hilt of the Kazejin tightened. "How are you going to blow me up without also killing yourself? We're really, really close right now, ya know."

Deidara pursed his lips. "Hmm… you may be right… Oh! I know! I'll just shove you off of here and just beat you up while you're falling! Believe me, kid, there's an art to blowing someone up while not killing them, and I am an _artist!_"

Naruto snorted. "You? An artist? You call this _art? _Your art _blows._ Those puppets down there? They were all right… but they beat the hell out of this clay crap you call art!"

Deidara's eyes widened, and Naruto could see them suddenly become bloodshot with rage. _Ok,_ he thought with some regret, _this guy isn't entirely stable. Maybe I shouldn't have pushed his berserk button like that… My mouth really is gonna get me in trouble one day._

"Sasori-sempai's art… is better than _mine? _I'll show you whose art is better!" He crouched down on the back of the hawk. "Witness my art, boy! Try not to fall off!"

Without warning, the wings of the bird began to pump faster and faster. Naruto lurched forward off-balance. Deidara tried to slash his chest with a kunai, but Naruto was aware enough to put a foot in front of him and push himself back before he could be cut. He swung at Deidara wildly with his elemental blade while he windmilled with the other hand to maintain his already-precarious balance.

The Kazejin sliced off the tip of the kunai in Deidara's hand. The bomber looked at it in shock. "Huh… well, that's weird. I didn't even feel that happen. Guess I'll have to watch out for your sword, huh?" He tossed the broken weapon over his shoulder to plummet toward the ground without a thought.

"Guess so," Naruto agreed.

Deidara took a half step back. "Hmm… I'm usually a long-range fighter… I'm not too comfortable with you so close to me… guess I'll have to lose you, yeah?" Before Naruto could prepare for anything, the hawk began flying faster still and angled up, quickly climbing into a rapid descent.

Naruto had to lean back into the bird's back and grab onto the sides of it, on the sides of the head, to keep from falling off immediately. Only a few feet away crouched Deidara, in complete control of the statue's movement, so of course he was comfortably posed.

Almost as soon as Naruto was able to get himself steady, the hawk jerked to the side with a powerful stroke of its left wing. It flew to the right in a fast and tight arc, pushing him down into the hawk's hard and unyielding back. His arms slammed down hard against the sides, and to his horror the Kazejin was jarred out of his grip. With a cry of anguish, it fell away and to the hard earth below.

Deidara stood confidently on the hawk's back as soon as he saw that his foe was now unarmed. "Luck is mine!" he crowed. He dug his hand into his pouch and withdrew a bit of clay. "Now, come with me down to the ground, or I'm gonna have to get really, _really _mean." The hawk leveled out its flight, and Naruto was able to sit up, only to see Deidara's free hand with a kunai in it, ready to throw instantly.

Naruto grunted. "You'd like that, huh?" he asked.

The other blond nodded vigorously. "After what you said about my art? I'd spend _hours _bombing you with the tiniest explosives I could possibly make. It could take me _days _to weaken you to the point where you aren't a threat anymore… That's what I'd tell Leader-sama, anyway… yeah, he might buy that…"

Naruto sighed. "Well, I've got some bad news for you, Deidara-san."

Deidara cocked his head. "Huh? What would that be?"

Naruto held out a hand in front of him and concentrated. A second later, the Kazejin pierced the middle of the bird, scattering chunks of solidified clay and making the whole structure shudder. The Kazejin had accepted him as its true master, finally. "Your art is nothing but tools, cold constructs… however, _my _weapon is alive, and loyal _only _to me. I will _never _be unarmed. So, do you wanna try again?"

Deidara stepped backwards until he was at the base of the tail section. "Hmm… No, I don't think so."

"Why not?" Naruto taunted, waving the tip of the Kazejin at Deidara. "Are you really too afraid to fight someone hand to hand? Scared that you might lose?"

Deidara smiled unexpectedly. "No," he said. "I don't have to fight you, not anymore. You dumb brat… you just sealed your own doom, yeah…"

Naruto ground his teeth. "What? What in the hell—"

He felt the bird's body below him begin to crumble. He looked down, and to his horror, the hole that he had made was beginning to widen. The bottom of the gap was trickling clay and dust. With a thunderous crack, the back end of the hawk was showing signs of breaking off from the front. Deidara grinned as he pulled his hand from the pouch—_was that a _mouth _on his palm?—_and exposed a figurine of a clay… _dragon-like _thing. "That little stunt you pulled will work to my favor! Now, I don't have to worry about fighting you… just picking up the pieces down there!" He laughed menacingly. "Jinchūriki are pretty tough!" he said. "You might be banged up when you hit ground, but I think you'll survive all right. I can't wait to see the look on Leader-sama's face when I bring in _two _jinchūriki for the price of one!"

He leapt off of his end of the clay statue and, with a poof and a sizable cloud of smoke, reappeared on top of a…

"Oh. My. Crap."

…freaking clay _dragon _ten times the size of the derelict bird he now stood upon.

Now that Deidara was no longer in physical contact with the bird, it had stopped moving. Its wings were spread out, but for all intents and purposes, he was standing upon a two thousand pound _rock _at about two thousand feet in the air. He watched with horror as the hind end of the bird cracked even further… then broke apart entirely.

"See you at the bottom!" Deidara called out tauntingly as the bird's wings became dead weight and began falling to the ground below. "Don't die on me, now!"

Naruto's stomach jumped into his throat as the inert statue began picking up speed. "Oh, _**shhhiiiiiiiiitt!**_" he yelled. The world around him turned upside-down as he… well, turned upside-down. The curve and shape of the hawk's wings in mid-flap were no longer aerodynamic—in fact, they were in exactly the right positions to force the statue as a whole, and thus Naruto, into a lazy lopsided corkscrew spiral.

He was upside-down; he was sideways; he was facing the sky, with the statue's nose aimed at the surface. Every single second brought him closer to the surface of the world—the brink of death itself.

His mind raced in an attempt to figure a way out of this mess, but for the life of him, there was nothing that he could think of that would save him. Every bright idea he had was gone; every plan, deflated. He'd put everything he had into getting onto the bird in the first place. Now, all of the strength he had was simply gone.

He was done.

He felt his grip on the bird weakening, fading, as his personal store of chakra was rapidly depleting. He'd fought so hard, had been training so long, had run so fast to reach this point, he was closer to the point of exhaustion than he'd thought. His muscles felt as if they were made of lead—it took everything he had just to move, even though he didn't see the point in even trying anymore, not when he knew that he was going to die.

They picked up more speed as they got further to the ground. The wings of the bird were still knocking them off-kilter, tumbling on a rotating axis. He felt as if he was going to vomit everything in his stomach, but he held onto his contents, somehow, even though it was pointless. Waves of nausea hit him at the same time as the extreme dizziness… Nothing made sense anymore… nothing…

The world went black.

* * *

Deidara sat upon the head of the dragon, high in the sky, watching the boy with interest as he fell to his probable doom to the ground below. He smiled with satisfaction as the viewfinder on his eye captured the entire plummet, from the bird's crack in half to its eventual drop.

That he had been forced to create this C2 dragon was a cause of some slight embarrassment to the nuke-nin bomber. While helping Sasori capture the Nanabi, he'd only had to use his C1 explosives. Even ten of those couldn't rival the power of his dragon—by extension, one C2 used over ten times as much chakra as a C1. Deidara's chakra reserves weren't as high as some of the other members of Akatsuki—certainly not even in the same league as that brute companion of Itachi's, Kisame—but it was respectable, nonetheless. However, he had run through most of his chakra helping capture the girl; with Sasori going at her as hard as he could, going as far as using his ultimate puppet, the corpse of the Sandaime Kazekage himself, she'd been too fast for him to get a hold of. It had taken Deidara blanketing a square mile of land with several hundred C1s up to a hundred feet in the air to even bring her down to the ground.

A single C1 took a negligible amount of chakra to prime; that many explosives, though, had a noticeable drain. He was glad that he was able to avoid straight combat with the new jinchūriki; if he'd had a chance to activate any of his demonic chakra, he could have easily been overwhelmed—or forced to use one of his bigger bombs to incapacitate him, which carried the risk of killing the defenseless girl in his creation's beak. This way, he could pick up the pieces of the two and bring them to his leader—the man he had yet to meet, as a matter of fact.

If Leader-sama was pleased with his work, maybe… maybe he'd let his blow up that subordinate of Sasori's that had been annoying him for the past month. The thought brought a smile to the bomber's lips. He would _love _to blow that little creep to bits!

He mentally counted down the distance the statue, with its unwilling passengers, was from the ground as it fell. _Thirteen hundred… twelve hundred… eleven hundred feet… Wow, he looks as green as a frog! This is so great! Almost as good as the look his face would be if I was actually making him go boom! Perhaps Leader-sama will let me have his corpse when we're done with it… or maybe both? I can only pray! _He rubbed his cursed hands together in glee.

_Seven hundred… six hundred… Huh. He's doing what? _The boy, who until just a second ago had been holding on for dear life, was suddenly galvanized into movement. Deidara adjusted the rangefinder to get a tighter look at the boy—

_Oh, no, _he thought. _This is bad. _

Naruto was showing similar signs of pre-transformation that the girl had before she had turned into a creepy insectoid version of herself, something like a cross between human and Kabuto beetle. His skin was darkening… His cheeks were showing signs of whiskers on his skin… Claws… He twisted the dial around the lens to pull it even closer… closer…

His eyes, once a brilliant cerulean, were now blood-red and slitted high and narrow. Suddenly, upon the rotating rock, Naruto turned his head and his eyes seemed to stare directly into Deidara's own.

Deidara gulped. Perhaps this wouldn't go _quite _the way he thought it would.

* * *

The silence and darkness was all too familiar to Naruto. He was laying ankle-deep in stagnant water. As he came to and moved, the sloshing water echoed ominously in the cavernous expanse. He sat up and shook the imaginary water out of his imaginary ears and imaginary hair, imaginary droplets flying off of his imaginary head to land back in the imaginary pool. _Nothing in this place is real,_ Naruto reminded himself. _Nothing is real, but it is all too real at the same time. The imagination can have real effects—_especially _here. _

He stood up and, for experimentation's sake, focused chakra to his feet and stood atop the water. To his surprise, it worked—he had never liked sloshing through it during his few visits to the Kyuubi, and was thankful to Kakashi for teaching him how to walk on water. This place, the same as his mindscape with Sando, was reactive to his chakra, and could be treated as the real world. Interesting. He'd never tried to use jutsu here before… It was obvious in retrospect.

He decided to run down the sewer halls. He didn't know how far he was from the center of his seal, but the more familiar he became with the fox, the longer it took to reach him. He had spent some time thinking about it, and had come to the conclusion that it was some sort of additive to his seal to make it harder to abuse its power.

_Why did you have to make things so difficult, Dad?_

He sighed, but set out, each dash clipping a small geyser behind him. Torches on the walls illuminated his solitary journey. Though he knew that this was a straight hall, as it always had been before, it took quite a while, relatively, for him to come within eyesight of the Kyuubi's podium.

The platform was much the same as before, lined with crushed red velvet carpeting and centered by a throne, but there was something that he'd never expected to see—Sando and the Kyuubi facing each other from across a table, playing _chess._

He stood gape-jawed at the two demons, as different as night and day, playing as sophisticated a game as chess. He walked up the platform steps to the table and stared at the board. Kyuubi was white, and had more of Sando's pieces, though Sando was in a better position with his queen, a bishop, and both rooks in harassing positions on the fox's defenses. "Excuse me…" he said hesitantly. "There's something going on… I could probably use some help here…"

Kyuubi held up a hand to silence him. "Shush. Can't you see that the adults are talking?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Fox-baka! Listen to me for a minute! I'm fighting this guy who—"

"I know," Kyuubi said. "I was watching. Interesting guy, Deidara. Those creatures of his are quite troublesome."

The boy closed his eyes and ground his jaw. He decided to try to talk to the more reasonable of the two. "Sando," he said, "Maybe you can help me out? You see, there's this guy—"

"Ah ah!" Sando barked. "Not now! I've almost got him in checkmate. Don't distract me right now!"

Naruto stared at the two of them incredulously. "You both… you both are insane!" he shouted. "I'm about to die out there from a two thousand foot fall, and you're in here playing chess! What the hell is going on? You two are supposed to help me fight, but you're just dicking around all day, aren't you? Is that why I haven't been able to access your chakra, Kyuubi? You've been playing _chess? _What the hell was that all about back at Wave about me training to use your chakra, using you to fight? Have you just been jerking me around all this time?"

Kyuubi stayed his hand—he had just been about to grab a pawn to take a knight. "Kit," he said slowly, "listen up. You have no idea just how fucked up you are right now. If we don't get this game of chess resolved, _soon, _your entire chakra network could end up burning out the next time you try to use either of our chakras. If it wasn't for us 'dicking around' with this game of chess, you might lose your ability to use chakra _period, forever!_"

Naruto stepped back. The fox was becoming angry… nobody liked him when he was angry. Though he had a human shape, his eyes were pure Kyuubi: red, slitted, and menacing. "Um… o-ok," he stammered. "Maybe an explanation would help? 'Cause I'm kinda lost over here…"

The fox sighed. "Kohai? You wanna take this one?"

Sando growled at being referred to as such, but nodded. "Of course. Naruto, that fox over there and I need to resolve something, and we decided to do it by playing a game that we are equally-proficient at."

Naruto's jaw dropped. "Chess," he mumbled. "Fucking… _chess. _You have gotta be kidding me."

The Inugami chuckled and shook his head. "'Fraid not, pup," he said.

"But—but why?" Naruto asked.

"Why chess?" Sando shrugged. "We both enjoy the game. It has hidden layers of complexities that the amateur wouldn't—"

"_What's the freaking problem already?_" he bellowed. "If I should be worrying, I'd like to know! I don't need the two of you playing games with me! No more jokes, no more snide remarks—just be level with me! Please! _Please!_"

Sando rubbed his forehead. "Calm down, Naruto," he said. "You have nothing to worry about, I promise. We caught it before it became an issue, ok?"

"He's right," the Kyuubi said. "When he loses this game—"

"As if—"

"All will be well. You see, we discovered independently that the two of us sharing your body could have some awkward side-effects."

The way he said the last word made Naruto very, _very _nervous. "Side-effects? What kind of side-effects?"

"Er… Up to and including… well, death, at the extreme end," Sando answered.

Naruto grabbed his hair and pulled. "Death? _Death isn't a freaking side-effect!" _He turned around in place. "Why the hell didn't you guys tell me about this before now, right when I needed you both the most?"

Kyuubi grasped a pawn and advanced it forward one space instead of taking a knight. "Check." His pawn out of the way gave his bishop an avenue on Sando's king. "We didn't tell you because we needed to resolve it ourselves. We figured if we could handle it quietly, you wouldn't get so worked up."

Naruto eyed the demon fox. "And look at how well that turned out! Seriously, what's wrong, and how's a game of chess helping? And where the hell have you been for four weeks?"

Sando sighed. "Well, the thing is, as far as your body goes, there is no way that you can use both the chakra of Kyuubi and myself at the same time. We ran scenarios, we tried to work it out, but in the end it's just impossible at your present level of skill. One of us has to be your main source of demonic chakra, the other a secondary backup just in case. We're both stuck in here, and we both want to get into the game. This game is a matter of personal pride." He moved his rook into position to block Kyuubi's bishop, thus saving his king for at least a moment.

"The winner of the match will be your primary," Kyuubi continued. "At the moment, we're tied. The winner claims rights to the first ten fights you have. Trust me—that's huge for us prisoners."

Naruto facepalmed. "And what number game is this?" he asked.

Kyuubi's eyes darted across the board. "Number ninety-nine out of ninety-nine," he growled. "So I'd ask you to go away, shut up, and let me think!"

The boy's jaw dropped. "Close your mouth before something flies into it," Sando said absently.

"You've got to be freaking kidding me!" Naruto said, snapping his jaw shut. "I mean… Aargh!" He threw his hands into the air and stepped off of the dias. "How much longer are you going to be?"

Kyuubi shrugged. "Who knows?" His right hand hovered over the board pensively. "Could be hours… could be minutes… Until someone makes a mistake, at least."

Naruto stalked back up the platform and examined the chess board. "I don't have time for your game! I'm in trouble _now!_"

Sando laughed. "Boy, we're playing in your _mind. _Less than a second will pass in real time by the time we're done. Just sit back and relax, ok? We shouldn't be _too _long now."

"But this is real time for me!" Naruto said. He took one more look at the board. "Hey, Sando?"

The Inugami looked up at his mask's wearer. "Yes, Naruto-kun? What is it?"

Naruto grabbed Kyuubi's queen and moved it aggressively four spaces diagonal. "Checkmate."

Sando jumped to his feet simultaneously with Kyuubi, the former yelling in anger, the latter shouting with joy. "No no _no!_" Sando shouted. "No! That doesn't count! That's not checkmate! _That doesn't count, fox!_"

The Kyuubi laughed deeply and richly. "Hahaha, oh gods! That was terrific! I can't believe I missed that!" He pointed a clawed finger at Sando. "That counts, puppy! I was seriously considering moving there! I was just about to, in fact, before the kid did! So it's legitimate!"

"Bull shit!" Sando shouted! "I won't accept that!" He looked at Naruto reproachfully. "Why'd you cheat for him, Naruto?" he asked mournfully. "Now I won't be able to fight! I've been cooped up in here forever now!"

Naruto sighed and covered his eyes with a hand. "Don't whine, Sando," he said. "It doesn't become you. Listen, how about this: Kyuubi gets this fight, and you can compete again _without _me around. That way, it'll be a fair contest. The next time I'm in a tight spot, the winner of that contest—whatever the hell it is—can give me a boost. Agreed?"

Sando looked sourly at the fox. "I suppose," he said grudgingly. "But I choose next time, Kyuubi! Chess is too complicated!"

Kyuubi snorted. "You're lucky I went easy on you for a while at the end. You wouldn't have had a chance otherwise, gaki." He moved away from the table and put a gnarled hand between Naruto's shoulder blades. "Come on, boy. It's time to go."

Naruto looked over his shoulder as he was ushered away and smiled apologetically at Sando. "Sorry, Sando! I'll make it up to you, I promise!"

The fox waved his condolences away. "Eh… don't worry about it, boy," he said. "I wouldn't have been too much use—those explosives don't look like they can be absorbed elementally anyway. That kitsune really is the best choice for this kind of fight, I suppose."

The boy nodded. "Thanks, Sando-san! See ya later!" He looked up at the face of Kyuubi. "Ready to go?" he asked.

Kyuubi grinned wolfishly. "Oh… I've been waiting for this chance for _years,_" he said. He grabbed Naruto by the back collar of his shirt and hoisted him into the air. "Hold on, kit!" he said boisterously. "This could be a bumpy ride!"

He crouched low, his features quickly morphing more and more foxlike. His ears extended into long points, his snout grew, his fangs became more pronounced, and a thick shaggy fur covered his body as his clothing seemed to disappear. Soon, what amounted to a large fox with the basic anatomy of a human clutched him in its clawed paw. "**Oh… yessss!**" he sighed. "**I can feel it! Let's go, boy!**" He leapt straight up, leaving the antechamber behind in a flash.

"**It's time to **_**party**_**!**"

* * *

A/N: Well, well, well. Now you know what's going on, huh? Things are looking up for our hero… or _are _they? Seriously, I'm needlessly cruel to my characters sometimes. Who knows? Hinata could very well die fighting Sasori, even.

Speaking of which, I don't know if I accurately portrayed Sasori and Deidara here. I think I got their personalities right, but I'm not quite sure. In any case, I did the best that I could. I think I did an ok job…

So, like I said at the top, I'm doing some lemons, maybe. Message or review with suggestions if there's something that you want to read!

By the way, there's something that you all have to read. It's called "It All Started With" and it's one of the best fics I've found. It's a weird love story, and there's some questionable grammar, but it's one of the best stories out there. Read it. Like, as soon as you're done reading this.

Review, please!

Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no lies!

dead witch


	28. Battlefield Divided

A/N: Sorry for taking so long with this one, people. I've had a lot thrown at me lately, and I kinda had something going on with this girl… but that's pretty much done with, sad to say. Oh well—life goes one, right? Plenty of fish in the sea.

I'm currently working on a probable one-shot Naruto/Sakura, though if people like it, I'll add a couple chapters, maybe. Also got an Incredibles story in the works, and a possible alternate universe Power Rangers story sometime down the road. Keep your eyes peeled.

For the first time in quite a while, I'm gonna answer some reviews from the past few chapters, cause there's some things that need to be said.

**Haymitch Abernathy: Your wish is my command. I was actually worried about that, too. I felt I was kinda turning him into a wuss for a while there. This chapter should satisfy, I think.**

**Dark Devil2k7: I know that a lot of you wanted there to be more Sasuke action, but I swear that there's a reason that he went off on his own. Without giving too much away, Shukusatsu is taking a more active role in his training than the other two masks (possibly making him that much more powerful than the others, even…) and many of the techniques are wide-scale destruction types. Like… No living person can be within a mile or so safely and he train. Yeah. Let that sink in for a moment.**

**Death Fan Zero: I know that Hinata is acting like Sakura. I swear, that wasn't my intention from the beginning, but that's just the way the character has evolved. I know it seems extreme, but that's just the way it is with her. Sorry if it irritates you, but having her come out of her shell, taking some charge in her life instead of meekly following everyone around like a good little puppy—that's my ideal of the character.**

**Silver Warrior: Pantyhose Taro? I will never forgive you, my friend. What has been seen cannot be unseen. On a side note, everyone reading this should google "Pantyhose Taro" right now. Go ahead, I'll still be here.**

**Twilight- The Moon Spirit: To kill or not to kill… I am seriously still in debate on that one. Like, coin-flip debate. I suppose I should figure it out soon, huh?**

**Anthurak The Chaos Lord: Araki **_**is **_**badass. It's entirely possible that he is badass **_**incarnate **_**at this point.**

**Kethatril: I thought you'd figure it out by now—I am the undisputed **_**master **_**of the "Evil Cliffhanger no Jutsu." My skills in this are **_**legendary. **_

**a pen name that no one has: I usually don't respond to anonymous reviews, but I figured this one was good enough to give voice to. For starters, you said that you'd kick this Hinata in the teeth if you met her. Um, seriously? The whole **_**ninja **_**thing aside, she's thirteen years old in my version. Thirteen. I know it gets a bit squicky in parts of the story, but how many thirteen-year-old girls do you know who you can stand? I remember when my sister was that age, she cut me with a chef's knife. Yeah. Puberty is a bitch.**

**Also, the whole "Hinata's stronger than Naruto" thing was played for laughs with Haku. Who knows which one is truly stronger at this point? Who knows the relative strength of the dragon, Aoiryu, against the likes of Sando or the Kyuubi? Now that I think about it, that would be a pretty cool chapter…**

**Haku was faster than Naruto **_**before Naruto got the Kyuubi's power running through him. **_**Go back and reread that chapter—Naruto had to use his clones and a couple gambits to stall the iceman, and that was before Haku revealed his ability to do jutsu one-handed. Haku had Naruto on experience and skill. If the Kyuubi hadn't been unlocked, he most likely would have died in that fight.**

**Naruto fought Yamamoto for a while, yeah… But I already acknowledged that the man wasn't going all out, and Kakashi just got unlucky by pulling his trump card out early and having it swatted aside. Also, think about it—if the parasite could wash the Byakugan away, logically, it could do the same to the Sharingan.**

**Meh to everything else… come on, you're nitpicking a fanfiction! Relax and enjoy!**

That's about all that I have to say right now… can't think of anything else newsworthy. Read and review, please, even if you didn't like it.

* * *

**Chapter 28**

"Indeed," Sasori said casually as he came out from the cover of the trees, "this most definitely _will _hurt you, quite a bit. And I will enjoy every second of it, girl."

Though she had thoroughly examined him with her Byakugan, seeing him without all of the enhancements of her doujutsu brought an entirely different perspective.

The puppet body was modeled after a young teenage boy—red-haired, brown-eyes, seemingly mild-mannered. Its eyelids were half closed in apathy, and its artificial frame betrayed nothing in the way of body language. She knew, though, that it was the host of something sick and vile… something that didn't deserve—no, shouldn't be _allowed _to exist. That _thing _was wretched beyond all conceivable reason.

She would end it.

"You must be Sasori," she said evenly, turning until her left side was facing the apparent youth.

It nodded. "I am," the wooden mouthpiece said. "I do not require your name; that you are Hyuuga is enough. Your eyes betray you. I have always wanted a Hyuuga… how fortunate for me to have the chance to add you to my collection."

A small particle of ice began to circulate in Hinata's blood. _Collection? This sounds like… Can he possibly mean… But I thought that puppet was…_

Hinata paled. Her mouth suddenly felt like cotton. "Oh, no," she whispered. "Collection? You mean, your puppets?"

The red-haired doll nodded. "Yes," it said. "My collection. I will turn you into a doll, all for me to play with. I am sure that you will be one of my favorites."

Hinata knew that she needed to control herself. She couldn't let herself be intimidated by this… this… _freak. _"Do you think it'll be easy to beat me?" she asked. "We Hyuuga _laugh _at puppeteers."

Sasori nodded. "Easy? What fun would it be if killing you were easy? Make no mistake, young Hyuuga. I have fought your clan before, though only the weak members of your Branch house. Two, in fact, have been killed by me, long ago in the wars. They weren't easy for me to take down… but I managed. But that was long ago, and I wasn't nearly as talented then as I am now. If you can give me a bigger challenge than them, _perhaps _I'll put you in my _special _collection."

A wave of revulsion fell like a bomb in Hinata's stomach. "You… you sick bastard… I am going to _enjoy _what I'm going to do to you." She set herself up in her family's trademark stance. "For my clan, for all those who've been hurt by you. This is for every one of them." She morphed her leading hand into a one-fingered salute, her middle finger the prominent digit. "Bring it, asshole."

The puppet didn't stir. No expression hit its face. In fact, the only movement on it was the rippling of its robes and hair in the wind. Its tan eyes bore into her with false intensity. Finally, it spoke. "Are you done psyching yourself up yet?" it asked lackadaisically. "Because I have something of a schedule to keep, and I don't want to be late."

Hinata grinned through her mild nausea. "Like I said. Bring. It. _Asshole._"

The wooden eyelids on the puppet's head widened, bare millimeters. "Oh… oh, my. This _will _be fun." It reached behind its back to pull a scroll out from its holster. "Hmm… how about… yes, I know. That will be perfect, indeed." He unfurled the scroll without looking. "Yes, this will do just fine as a test of your skills."

Hinata frowned as she went just a bit more on guard. "What are you talking about?" she asked it heatedly.

Sasori cocked its/his head to the side. "Hmm… well, girl… I'd like to see how you handle fighting multiple opponents." He slammed his palm against the paper of the scroll. In a flash and puff of smoke large enough to cover the beach area, a small army, thirty or so strong, appeared. "If I am to add you to my collection… I need to know what your capabilities are." The puppets twitched as the chakra strings emanating from Sasori's chest latched onto the puppet corp. "This should be informative."

Hinata leapt backwards as the first wave of puppets advance.

There wasn't much strategy is the assault as far as she could see; it seemed that Sasori's strategy relied on swarming his opponent with puppets and pummeling them from all directions. She did the only thing she thought that she possibly could do and survive:

"I am so out of here," she mumbled to herself as she turned and ran away down the beach and into the woods as quickly as possibly could, puppets hot on her trail.

Sasori stood there for a moment. "Hmm… either she's foolish, or she is a genius… Does she know that my range in the forest is limited? Perhaps this will be more interesting that I thought it would." He turned and stepped into the trees. "Do not disappoint me, little Hyuuga girl. I _will _have those precious eyes of yours."

He pulled the second of four scrolls from his back. _I suppose that it's time to use _this_ technique. I can't believe that I'm resorting to it already. If the rest of Akatsuki hears that I used it to hunt down a _girl_, I'll be a laughingstock._ The puppet master shook his head. _I don't have too much choice, though. With that Byakugan of hers, there's no chance for me to pull a trap on her or anything of the nature. I must swarm her with the heaviest rush I can. That means… _He worked the gears in his chest to manipulate the puppets still in the woods to come back to him. In moments, they all had returned. They lined up near him, and vanished in puffs of smoke when he activated the seals on the storage scroll that held them. _No need to use them, not when my elite are to be deployed, _he thought. "**Akahigi: Hyakki no Souen**" he called out, rapidly tapping a series of seals on the scroll as it unfurled after he had jerked it stiffly. He really had no need to call out the technique, a focusing tool that most shinobi used to concentrate, foolish as it was when stealth was required. The remaining biological core that had been Akasuna no Sasori was pure focus. He simply grew… _nostalgic _on occasion.

Seconds later, a hundred red-robed marionettes surrounded him. Again, though they were simply puppets under his command—although they had once been living people, each and every one of them—he gave a verbal command. "Catch the girl. Bring her back alive. No exceptions." He didn't feel foolish in the least for having talked to the dolls, no more than anyone else would for talking to themselves out loud. The legion sprang into action, dashing into the trees and weaving around the obstructing trunks.

Seconds after the last one had vanished from view, he, too, broke through the tree line. His range in this terrain was extremely limited. Though he was able to control a puppet outside of his visual range with some degree of skill, it would take all of his concentration to manipulate all of his mannequins with any efficiency whatsoever. To truly make full advantage of his skill, he would have to enter the fray himself—an act that he hadn't had to make in quite some time.

_This girl had better be worth the trouble, _he thought as he wove through the trees.

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes. The wind whistled dangerously in his ears. He knew that he was falling dangerously fast toward the unforgiving ground below. The danger he was in could not be underestimated. At first, a dash of panic overtook him… then…

The rush of power hit him like a ton of bricks. Instantly, the queasiness in his gut was replaced by a surge of energy that felt like a million hot pokers stabbing him awake from the inside-out. It hurt like hell, but in a good way that he couldn't explain. The power of the Kyuubi was doing its damnedest to escape from his core.

He felt the beginnings of his bodily transformation. His fingernails grew into claws, thick and sharp, and he felt his teeth, especially the canines, extend into veritable fangs. A slip of his lip brought the taste of blood to his tongue, so sharp were they. His skin crawled, particularly on his cheeks, as it bristled with barely-contained internal pressure.

_Oh my… gods… is _this _what it is to be a jinchūriki? _He could only marvel at the power restrained inside of him. Before, when he was only in the Academy, he dabbled occasionally with the Kyuubi's chakra, even going so far once in a while to let him take over his body… but he had never made the conscious decision to actively _use _the chakra to supplement his own. The event on the bridge in Wave didn't count—it was an accident, like breaking a dam and witnessing the waters escape confinement. But this…

_This is _excellent. Ignoring the burning in his stomach, it was as if he was going through the mother of all caffeine highs.

**Focus, gaki, **the Kyuubi barked at him irritably. **Even with my power, you might not be able to survive a crash from this height. Get off of this lump right now, or you might not walk away! **

_Yeah, yeah, _Naruto grumbled. _But first, I have to get this girl out of here. It's what I came to do, after all. _He flexed his fingers, briefly examining his newfound claws, then plunged his right hand into the clay-based bird's body, easily penetrating the brittle material. He quickly made his way the few feet toward the beak of the bird, then paused. He looked directly up into the sky to see the tiny speck outlined nearly against the sun itself. He glared at it, knowing who was up there and was the cause of all of his current trouble. _When I'm done here, _he thought, _I'm gonna rip that guy's arms off and beat him to death with them!_

**Sounds like fun**_**, **_the Kyuubi laughed inside of Naruto's mind. **Count me in. Get off of this rock, though. **_**Then **_**you can think about revenge.**

Naruto nodded. Rescuing his fellow jinchūriki and helping her survive the fall was his number one priority. He positioned himself directly over the head of the bird and thought for a second. It would be too awkward for him to open the beak itself. Seeing no other option, he punched through the clay head with a chakra-enhanced fist, once, twice, three times before it was spider-webbed enough to crumble away. He dug his fingers into the cracked clay and tossed handfuls away, proceeding to grab greater slabs and treat them likewise. Dust flew into his face and invaded his nose and mouth, and he had to blink rapidly to prevent himself from becoming blinded. But little by little, as he plunged headlong downward, he was digging deeper and deeper, ever closer to the girl herself.

Finally, he had ripped off the top half of the bird's dome, leaving nothing to it but its throat and bottom beak, exposing the full upper body of the slim girl. She was just as he had seen when Sasori had handed her off to Deidara, though perhaps a little worse for wear. Her physical condition was horrible—her upper left arm was obviously broken, and so was her right forearm. Blood had dripped and dried from her nostrils and the corners of her lips, giving her a gruesome red mask. Her jaw looked dislocated, and nearly all of her visible skin, though already tanned, was bruised beyond belief. She had taken quite a beating, but to her credit, she had somehow survived.

**She's cute, **Kyuubi observed neutrally.

_Shut up,_ Naruto shot back at him absently. _Quit distracting me. _

She was still unconscious, which was probably a blessing in disguise; with all of her injuries, she would have been in so much pain, coherent thought would have been next to impossible. _Gotta get her outta here… but how do I help us both survive _after?

**I can help, **the fox offered. **I have some skills that would save your ass, you know.**

Naruto thought about it for no more than a half second. _Do it, _he ordered. _Take my body for one minute, do what you have to do. _

Naruto could practically feel Kyuubi grin. **It's about damn time! **he crowed. Naruto relaxed his control over his body as he felt the will of the demon invade. He thought back, briefly, to the time in the forest when he had fought Mizuki and the Kyuubi had taken over. Back then, he didn't have the skill or physical fortitude to contain the power for more than a few minutes, but now… now was different. _He _was different, on so many levels. It was as if he was no longer the same person at all anymore.

The rush of power hit him quickly and mercilessly, redoubling every second, crashing into him from all directions like hot surf. But unlike the last time, he was able to handle it. He was _prepared. _He was _ready._

The fox experimentally flexed the hands he now possessed, curling his fingers in and out one by one. **Feels good to be able to feel the wind firsthand again, **he thought-spoke to Naruto idly.

The boy mentally facepalmed. _Worry about that later, will you? _he shrieked internally. _We're kinda in a tight spot right now! _

The Kyuubi sighed aloud. **Fine, fine… whatever. **He brutally ripped the remainder of the bird's back away from the girl's legs, fully exposing her clay-dusted body to the air. Particulates and bits of gravel-sized chunks drifted away, leaving the statue behind as it fell closer and closer toward the earth.

_Kyuubi…_

**I see it, **the fox growled.

_Kyuubi…_

**I said I see it! **it snarled. **Trust me, I have a plan! **

_The ground is getting awfully _big, _you know, _Naruto informed the fox somewhat nervously. Now _might be a good time to do whatever it is you are thinking of doing!_

**Shut up, kit! You're just distracting me! **The bird was upside down to the ground now; had Naruto been in control, his natural reaction to retch might have overtaken him.

One of the wings cracked at the joint, and the entire structure began rotating on an entirely new axis. He had handed the reigns over to his Bijuu just in time—there was no way in hell he could have handled this on his own. He felt his hands and feet struggle to maintain their chakra-enhanced grip on the statue's surface; though the fox was able to stay with it, there was an undeniable risk to the girl. Now that she was loosened from her prison, she was free-falling just as much as they were.

_Kyuubi!_

**Shut up!**

_No, you shut up! _

**No, you!**

_**There's about one hundred freaking yards left to go! Get your ass in gear!**_

Without preamble, Kyuubi grabbed the girl and tossed her over his shoulder. The bird's rotation brought it back nearly parallel with the ground. For a scant second, Naruto was able to see the blue, blue sky through his own eyes. **How does this work for you? **Kyuubi asked. He crouched down low…

The leapt out into the void, jumping up, up, up… and for a brief, brief instant, was motionless in the middle of the air, the middle of the entire world…

And then began to fall once again.

That _was your plan? I hate you so much right now._

**I'm not too fond of you either, **the fox said. **But I haven't even begun yet. Watch and be amazed. **He crafted his left hand into a sign Naruto was familiar with, a half-ram. In an instant, demonic chakra surrounded his body in the vague shape of the Kyuubi himself.

He reached his arm behind him, took a deep breath, closed his eyes—

"_**HAAAAAAAAA!" **_he shouted as he thrust his arm down at the ground. A gigantic chakra construct in the shape of a clawed paw/hand, easily the size of a horse, darted at the field below, vaporizing a half-dozen cattle and scattering well over two or three dozen more.

The hand was connected to Naruto by what appeared to be a living tendril of chakra that was in no way shaped like an arm of any kind. It simply appeared to be a connection to the hand and Naruto's body. But as Naruto fell, it began coiling around and around, and after a few seconds he felt himself decelerate. The arm began to shrink, and after a moment, Naruto found himself safely on the ground, wind gently blowing through his hair as the chakra that enveloped him slowly began receding back into his seal.

He felt the Kyuubi's influence on his body release, and almost fell to the ground to his side. As it was, he took a knee, too tired to trust himself to stand safely.

_Ok… I'll admit it, fox. That was an _excellent _plan._

**Told you, **it replied smugly.

Naruto gently removed the girl from his shoulder and cradled her in his arms. "What to do with you," he muttered to himself.

She groaned unexpectedly. "You c-can try put-t-t—" She coughed horribly, a tiny billow of dust coming out of her throat. "—putting me down, d-dickwad,"

Naruto almost dropped her, as much in shock from the name she called him as the fact that she was even conscious. "You're alive!" he said, and almost instantly knew that saying something so obvious was idiocy.

The girl was quick to call him on it. "N-nice ded-d-duction skills, genius," she wheezed. She turned her head and spat onto the ground. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto," he said tersely, "and I'm the guy who's saving your life."

She coughed again. "How's t-that going?" she asked, a tiny smile coating her dirty lips.

Naruto had to shake his head and sigh. "So far? Could be going better, I think." He glanced at the sky to see the ominous shape of the gigantic clay dragon with his foe upon it. "I'd give it a solid six point five as far as rescues go."

The girl closed her eyes. "Huh. Great. They sent a freaking _c-comedian _to pull my ass out of the f-fire."

Naruto laughed. "Yup, that's me. I'm here 'till Thursday." He moved his shoulder—and she shrieked in agony.

"_YOU MOTHERFUCK MOTHERFUCKING FUCK I'M GOING TO RIP YOUR SPLEEN OUT AND WIPE MY ASS WITH IT!"_

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Naruto said hastily. "I—"

"Just put me down! Put me down! Right now!"

Naruto did as he was told. Taking great care to not jar her already-broken arms, he set her upon the freshly-disturbed loam.

"This isn't safe," he told her. "We can be attacked any _second, _you have to let me get out of here!" He looked up once again. The dragon looked somewhat closer than it had been just a moment before. "He's coming! The bomb guy is coming right _now, _we have to run!"

Silent tears of pain fell from the outside corners of her eyes to fall into the dirt. "Run? You can run. Run as far as you want. I c-can't run anymore. I can't t-take running anymore. I don't have any more run left in m-me. Just g-go, kid."

Naruto stood over her broken body. "I'm not leaving without you, girl," he said. "I've already put my life on the line to save you more times than I care to think of right now. What makes you think I'll pull out now?"

The girl coughed. A dribble of blood escaped from the corner of her mouth. "You're an id-idiot, Uzumaki," she said with a rasp. "Just who in hell do you t-think you are?"

Naruto grinned. "Didn't I tell you? I'm the guy who's saving your life!"

She groaned in a mixture of pain and exasperation. "Don't you ever give up?" she asked. "What makes you think you can save me?"

Naruto turned his head toward hers to give her a better look at his eyes. When the Kyuubi had powered down, his eyes had changed back to their natural cerulean, but the flicker of anger and anticipation of battle had turned them right back to the demon-influenced crimson. "Why? Because I am just like you. I am the jinchūriki of the Kyuubi, the most powerful of the Bijuu. And I am perfectly ready and willing to kick some ass!"

The aura of red began to enclose him once again. The ground at his feet began to become even more disturbed than it was. He felt the internal air pressure rise slightly as the chakra shell grew thicker and more dense, quickly going from a simple red to a deep, dark, malevolent shade of dried blood. "Just stay here and try to stay out of trouble," he said, his voice slightly resembling the fox's. "I'll try to keep the fighting away from you. Try to heal, if you can do the healing thing like me. I should be back in fifteen minutes or so." He turned to go, but was halted by the girl's words.

"Wait!" Naruto paused, and turned only his head to peer over his shoulder.

"What?"

She bit her lip. "Why are you helping me? Why risk you life? You don't know me. You don't know the things I've seen… the things I've _done. _What makes you think I'm worth saving?"

Naruto didn't say a word for a solid minute. As the amount of chakra that he was pulling from his reserves grew and grew, going _much _further than he had ever dreamed possible, he felt his body begin the slow vulpine morph once again, contorting his body more dramatically than it had before. In the past, he had taken into him up to two of the Kyuubi's tails worth of chakra… but now…

He looked over his shoulder to see five spectral tails waving behind him.

"What makes you worth saving?" Naruto asked. "Do you have to be _worth _saving? You must know some of the same pain that I do. Can't you let that be enough?"

"Big damn hero," she muttered. "Don't you want to at l-least know my _name _before you go out and risk your neck?"

Naruto shook his head gently. "Does it matter?" he asked. "Would it make it any easier to fight?"

She opened her mouth to speak, but coughed instead. "I thought not," he said. "Rest. Heal. Hold on." He took a few steps away, but was halted when she shouted.

"Fū! My name is Fū!"

Naruto smiled without turning back. "Well… now that you _said _it… I suppose it's nice to meet you, Fū. Now, please… shut up and let me do my thing."

She snorted with a pained expression. "And just what is y-your 'thing'?"

He grinned, glad that she couldn't see his face. "I do the 'big damn hero' thing, Fū. You had better believe it." The chakra around him was becoming ever thicker and opaque, turning to black in some spots. "Now, just sit tight, and I'll be… back…" He looked up as he spoke, and immediately shut up.

Fū turned her head. "Oh, no. You stopped t-talking. What happened? What's wrong?"

Naruto's entire body was now covered by a red-lined black shroud. His eyes appeared to be nothing but white voids, and his ears seemed to have elongated. When he spoke, it was equal parts Naruto and Kyuubi. "_**Um… ok, I think I changed my mind. It's definitely time to run.**_"

"W-what? Why?"

"_**Because things that look suspiciously like bombs are coming this way right now!**_" He turned to her, panic evident in his now-white eyes. "_**I think it's time to run after all!**_" He turned around and bent over her and threw her over his shoulders in a fireman's carry.

She shrieked in his mutated ear in agony. His enhanced senses came back to bite him in the ass—gods, she was loud! "_**Shut up!**_" he shouted at her as he dashed blindly away from that spot. "_**I can't concentrate when y—**_" He was interrupted by a volley of mines impacting the ground fifty feet behind him. Had he not run with her, even with the coating of chakra around him, he would at least have been hit _hard. _The shockwave made him stumble, though, and he nearly fell on his face as a sudden rush of condensed air pushed him sharply from behind. He pitched forward and for a second was nearly horizontal with the ground, his legs pumping furiously all the while. He was able to right himself after two second's frantic quick-stepping.

Fū was screaming obscenities all the while, directly into his ear. "Put me down you—_ugh!—_psycho _asshole!_" was one of her more memorable ones.

"_**Sure, I'll put you down,**_" he shot back at her, "_**as soon as those bombs give me some breathing space! Hell, I'll paint a big bright sign telling him where to drop the rest! Hell, I'll go one better and put you in the middle of a fucking bullseye if that'll make you happy!**_"

"I'm going to kick your—_ugh!" _Her threat was interrupted by Naruto's sharp juke to the left to avoid a cluster of dropping bombs from the right. The jolt to her limbs shut her up more effectively than words—three out of four broken meant a _lot _of pain. Tears of pure agony streamed from her eyes. "I am g-going to—to—" A sob escaped her lips, followed by a hiss. "Son of a b-bitch! D-do you even know where you're going?"

Naruto looked up. Not five hundred yards above him was the clay dragon, with Deidara presumably upon it. Every few seconds, it spit a mine from its jaws like a gigantic wad of phlegm. He was running very, very fast, but the statue was keeping up easily. "_**Ask me again in fifteen seconds, will ya?**_" he said.

She whimpered, a sound that felt pathetic to his attuned ears. In truth, his heart broke for the girl, but he had to steel himself and be firm with her. "W-why fifteen seconds?" she stammered.

"_**Because it'll keep you quiet for another fifteen seconds! Now let me think!**_"

Another whine of pain escaped her. "I'm going to bite you to death, b-bastard," she said, her voice growing more faint now. "B-bite you, bite you…"

She fell silent, then more slack on his shoulders.

"Fū? Fū! Stay with me, Fū!" He looked over his shoulders. Her eyes were closed, her jaw slack. She had once again passed out. "Shit!" he shouted aloud. "Shit, shit!" _Don't you die on me! Don't you fucking die! I won't let you die!_

_I can't lose someone like me again! Not again!

* * *

_

_If this girl isn't worth all this trouble, _Hinata thought grimly as she darted between trees to avoid the relentless assault of those damnable puppets of Sasori's, _I am going to be very, very cross with her. _For ten minutes or so, she had desperately been avoiding attack after attack of every sort from the dolls the false man kept sending after her.

A seemingly infinite variety of jutsu and stratagems had been thrown at her already. Her Byakugan made it nearly impossible to capture her in a trap, but that didn't hinder Sasori from trying. She had somehow managed to remain untouched, and had destroyed seventeen already, but there were more and more coming at her, and there were two dozen darting forward to block off easy escape. In the end, there would be no escaping it—she would have to face Sasori head-to-head to survive.

She didn't know which Hyuuga he had killed, or when… but her ties to her family were still strong enough (much to her chagrin) that the blood vengeance boiled angrily in her veins. This was a blood wrath that she had experienced only once before, during her first mission as one of the Sanseirei. When she saw Kaoru's arms, saw the self-inflicted scars that were there because of the sexual abuse put upon her by her father, she had entered into a wrath that bypassed her regular scruples. With this mindset, she had effortlessly and emotionlessly destroyed Nagasaki's heart and snuffed the flame of life from him, without remorse, without regret.

_I guess, _she idled, _my family is more important to me than I had thought. _If the thought of people she had never met, even if they were related to her by blood, could send her into this mental state. _I should worry about this later, and the fight at hand right now. Assessment time._

She mentally checked off her available resources. _Let's see… Twelve kunai, two dozen shuriken, two hundred yards of high-quality wire, four standard explosive tags… That teleportation kunai Naruto gave me… and, of course, my swords. Besides my ebony blade, I have seventy-two swords left. I threw fifteen at that puppet Sasori replaced himself with, and I've used thirteen to take out the control boxes of the rest of these jokers. _

_Should I use _that _sword already? _She bit her lip indecisively. _Kakashi-sensei told me to use it as a last resort. It kills much too easily. But isn't that what I want right now? To kill?_

**That is what swords are for, dear, **Aoiryu reminded her gently. **They are meant to kill. You can put whatever romantic aura around them you want, but in the end, they are designed to end human life.**

_I suppose, _Hinata told her mask. _But can I really kill him, when he isn't even truly alive anymore?_

**Perhaps that is the point. Why do you hesitate? This man is your enemy. He wants to kill you, turn you into a… a… I cannot even **_**say **_**it. Does he deserve your mercy?**

Hinata shook her head. _Maybe not, _she told Aoiryu. _But before I can fight him, I have to take out all these puppets first. I don't know how I'll manage that without exhausting myself first. I don't have a lot of chakra to begin with, and even destroying half of them could exhaust me._

Aoiryu mentally cleared her throat. **Ahem… **Hinata could feel the dragon's spectral eyes stare at her from the inside. **Are you dense, child? Have you already forgotten what we have already discussed, long past?**

Hinata frowned. _No, of course not! _she said. _I just… I didn't want to use that technique before I learned some of the other skills of the Hyuuga!_

**The Hyuuga skills that I could instantly put into your memory? You forget, **_**I am **_**the one who created the Byakugan! I have already taught you the ****Juuho Soushiken****—why will you not let me complete your training?**

_Because it's _not _training! It's more like _cheating _if you just give it to me, without me having to work for it! If it comes easy, it's not worth having!_

Aoiryu sighed. **You are so obstinate. It is not **_**cheating. **_**If I can give you the knowledge you need to survive, why would you reject it? You are my progeny, my spiritual descendant. I only want the best for you—please, let me help you be the warrior that I know you can be. The job of the Sanseirei is to give power to the bearers of the masks. Let me do the only thing I am capable of anymore. Without this… I am **_**nothing **_**anymore. I am just a piece of wood.**

Hinata closed her eyes. _I understand, Aoiryu, _she said. _I understand what you're going through. I know how much it hurts to be considered worthless. I _don't _think of you like that, I promise. But I have to prove to myself that I can survive on my own. You might not be there for me one day, and I need to know that I can do it on my own._

The dragon was silent for a moment. **If that is what you wish, **she said after a little while. **But know that I will always be here for you should you wish it. **

_I know, _Hinata told her. _I love you, Aoiryu. You know that, right? _

**I know, young one. I know your heart, remember? I am but a thought away.**

_I know, _Hinata said again. _Wait… perhaps there _is _something that I need your help with. It's basic, but I wouldn't consider it "cheating" per se…_

**Yes?**

_You once told me of Hyuuga who could make blades of pure chakra without using the wind element and creating constructs to act offensively and defensively. Do you know how that was accomplished?_

**I do, **Aoiryu said. **Would you like to know?**

Hinata bit her lip, then nodded. _Yes. Please, give me that knowledge. I have an idea, but it could only work with your help._

Hinata could feel Aoiryu smile inside of her. **Of course. I look forward to what you are planning.**

Instantly, Hinata could feel the raw upload of information into her memories. Just like that, she knew exactly how to most efficiently create nearly-microscopically thin razor blade chakra constructs. She would have to make up a jutsu on the spot to best utilize this knowledge—but creativity and ingenuity was what she was _best _at.

She stopped running and drew her blade from its scabbard. She was done running away. It was time to make a stand.

Her Byakugan tracked eighty-four puppets in the woods around her. Eighty-three, she knew, were simply that—puppets. But one out of the bunch was the puppeteer… the monster of a man, Akusuna no Sasori himself. If she had to destroy each and every single one of them to get to the real deal, she would.

If this worked, she could destroy each and every single one of them in one go.

The timing would be critical.

She drew the hilt of the sword towards her head with her left hand and the tip of her first two fingers on her right hand at the spine of the blade at the base. _Three… two… one… _A small puppet with blades all over its arms and legs jumped through the foliage, arms cocked back and knees drawn up to its chest.

Hinata sped her fingers up the sword's spine and tapped a seal with her thumb on the way up. As soon as her fingers hit the tip of the blade, a sword sped away from her and plugged into the chest of the puppet, hitting the one weak point on it and destroying the gear box that allowed Sasori to control it with a single chakra string.

_Chakra string… yes… that's his one weakness. That's what I need to focus on. Ignore the puppets themselves, and focus on the strings! Yes, I see it now! I can do this! I can win!_

She dashed off again, sheathing her sword in the same motion. She needed to lure Sasori to a place where he felt that he had the upper hand… somewhere he would have the obvious advantage. Extending her Byakugan's range to its upper limit, she saw the perfect place to the northwest—a large, open field where she would not be able to mount a conventional defense. _Who needs conventional? If it's a technique that he's never seen, there shouldn't be a way for him to counter it, at least not yet. I can get the jump on him, make his strategy work against him—_

_But first, I have to survive! _A hail of senbon flew at her from her left side from the wrist-mounted mechanics of one puppet. Of course, she had seen it approach and get into position, but there were more obstacles to her right, and she figured she would have an easier time taking on one than three.

She jumped straight into the air with a flip, letting the needles pass underneath harmlessly. Her feet hit a branch, and after it flexed back a couple inches with the impact, she sprang back to the ground and ran once again.

She was outrunning the puppets, she knew, only because Sasori needed to keep them all close enough to control. Were they on open ground, he would have been able to have them all attack as one. In the forest, though he could only afford to give a few his full attention.

_I'll give him what he wants, _she thought, a small smirk upon her lips. _I'll make him eat his words! "Always wanted a Hyuuga" my ass! I'll give him Hyuuga rage! Hyuuga wrath! I will destroy him with the might of my blood!_

She focused all of her chakra to her legs and redoubled her speed. The Byakugan let her slip through trees automatically, without having to worry about navigation. Within minutes, she had broken out of the trees without encountering a single puppet—no puppet could keep up with her.

The clearing was almost a mile wide, nearly circular but a bit longer than that in width. She ran to the center of it, atop a grassy knoll, and crouched. _Perfect… this is just what I need. This is _exactly _what I need. _A small smile crept to her lips as she looked up into the blue, blue sky. _This has to work. If it doesn't, I'm as good as dead. Here goes nothing. _She cast her normal gaze out over the field, into the forest she knew that Sasori was in. _It's time to squash a scorpion.

* * *

_

_Motherfucking bombs! Aargh! When will he run out? _Dozens and dozens of the mines had been released by the gigantic clay dragon in the sky, and although he was staying well ahead of them, there had been no chance to stop and try to help Fū. If only he could find a place to hide… he _knew _that he could take on Deidara without a problem. By his own admission, he was low on clay, his ammunition. How low was he? He _had _to be near his limit with all of those mines!

_Hmm… _The wide plains he had been forced to run across (populated by several types of large livestock, no less) to escape the mad bomber was fenced in on its eastern side by some of the gigantic trees that Konoha was known for. Somehow, a grove of the species had sprung up so far from his home. It was a mystery that he would have to explore one day—but not now. He wouldn't look this gift horse in the mouth.

_Now you're in my world! _Naruto thought gleefully.

_Boom. Boomboomboom boomBOOM._ The explosions were getting uncomfortably closer and closer as Deidara maneuvered the dragon to deliver its deadly payload more efficiently. It had gotten closer to the ground, barely two hundred yards above them, and closing rapidly. The closer he got to the massive trunks of the ancient grove, the closer the dragon came, the closer the mines came to knocking them asunder. Naruto figured that he would probably survive the impact, due to his chakra shroud. Fū, though, wouldn't stand a chance. She was as exposed as a baby, and would die just as easily.

_Come on! Come on! _He was less than a hundred yards from the forest itself, but the explosions were closer than ever. He could feel the heat and concussion from each blast as they tore up the landscape, destroying the ground and totally flipping the known world upside down. _COME ON!_ Just a few… yards… more…

It was a single blast that lifted Naruto off of his feet, but one was all Deidara needed. It landed less than ten yards behind him, but it was close enough to make the ground around him buckle and explode outwards violently. He screamed as he was sent end-over-end into the thick, leafy canopy of the outer trees. He was aware enough to swing Fū's body from his shoulders to his arms and cradle her and tuck her to his chest as he plunged on through the leaves, sticks, and branches, taking almost all of the impact on his back and sides. It didn't hurt—his chakra shield was strong—but if he didn't manage to land safely, Fū could be in worse danger than she was already in.

He spread his tails out around him in a star shape. Hopefully, they would catch on some of the larger branches and break his fall and keep Fū safe. Amazingly, it worked—four of the five tails latched onto boughs and tree trunks. Naruto let them extend to absorb his momentum, thus, they quickly decelerated and stopped a few feet from the grassless ground. He twisted and got to his feet, retracting his tails back to his rear. _I can't believe that worked, _he thought idly. _I must be luckier than I had thought._

He looked left and right, searching desperately for a safe place to leave Fū. _Come on! Think! Wait, there! _About a hundred yards further into the woods was an ideal spot: a knot of roots supporting the massive tree that swept over and out like a cave entrance. He dashed to the tree in question and lay Fū gently on the ground inside the enclosure. She fit snugly, but not serenely; her arms still looked broken, and her ankle was twisted horrifically. No wonder she had passed out from the pain. He couldn't honestly say to himself that he wouldn't in the same circumstances.

"_**I'll be back for you, **__**Fū. I swear it. Just hold on a little while longer. Just… just hold on.**_" He cast a wrathful gaze into the sky, but could not see through the thick, eternal canopy. _I'm coming to get you, you son of a bitch. This is what happens when you come after mine. Deidara… I will __**break you in half. **_Even his internal voice was attaining a demonic accent now, it seemed.

Without having to worry about harming Fū, he no longer had any limits on his movements. With barely a thought, he was once again out of the forest, his feet having taken him almost as fast as his thoughts could command. _**Interesting, this. This speed… this raw power… is this what it really means to be a jinchūriki? This unlimited power? It feels GOOD! **_His pulse was quickening by the second, rapidly approaching levels beyond human comprehension. Adrenalin pumped through his veins as the demonic chakra threatened to overtake him. _**All… this… POWER! I AM UNSTOPPABLE!**_

He looked straight up to see the dragon flying directly at him in an almost vertical dive, Deidara atop its head. The dragon opened its mouth and spat out miniature versions of itself from its maw. One, two, three mini-dragon statues popped out and came to life, flapping wings and twitching heads as they dove straight down at him.

_**Oh… well, then. Time to run. **_He ran.

_**Oh, this is not going well. Bombs were enough! Now I have freaking exploding dragons coming after me? DRAGONS? When will this guy run out of tricks! For that matter, when will that dragon… wait, that's it! He's put everything he has into that dragon! It must have used all of his clay and probably a good bit of his chakra to make it! All those mines earlier, that dragon, it had to be his final gambit! If I can get up there, the game is over! **_

He looked over his shoulder to see the dragons in hot pursuit, the closest one barely ten yards behind him. _**Ok, crunch time. The million ryo question of the day is, can I survive getting hit by those things? Can they penetrate my shield? Can I take the chance? **_He fell to all fours to get better control of himself, as his tails were creating something of a balance issue. He instinctively fell into a lope that made full use of his unique anatomy, and quickly picked up a shot of further speed. The dragons fell behind for a moment… then quickly caught up. _**Aargh! I can't outrun them! They're just as fast as I am! **_He stopped suddenly, sending clouds of dirt into the air, momentarily obscuring him. _**Enough running! Let's see how tough those things really are! **_He turned and immediately fell backwards to avoid a miniature dragon; he could see the minute imperfections in the clay as it passed overhead.

He pushed himself up with his tails just in time to get a face full of the second animated statue. _**This is going to hurt, **_Naruto thought with a wince. It hit him dead on in the chest with the point of its beaked head.

The concussion almost knocked him out. The explosion from the middle dragon set off the third one, so in reality he got hit with the power of _two _of the dragons. They rocketed him into the air at a sharp arc, seemingly flying more out than up. _**Ugh... that hurt, **_Naruto thought, wincing at the impact. _**I might not be able to be penetrated, but damn if concussions don't knock me for a loop. New rule: no more playing chicken with explosives. Ever. **_He shifted his tails to reposition himself, spreading them once again in a five-point pattern to act as aerial fins and point his head at where he was hurtling towards. _**Wait a second… wasn't there another dragon… ahead… Oh, shit. **_The statue that he had dodged had taken a couple hundred yards to stop and turn around, but by the time Naruto was in the air, it had already begun its way back toward him.

The jinchūriki cocked back a fist and focused demonic chakra around it. "_**Take this!**_" he shouted, launching a chakra-made fist the size of a boulder at it. The statue tried to juke to its left, but the vulpine construct caught it on its side, detonating it at the touch almost fifty yards away.

He felt the shockwave, but it wasn't nearly as devastating as the two previous dragon explosions had been. His momentum carried him further still, though he was knocked a bit to his side. With a skyward glance he saw Deidara and the dragon—

"_**Oh, no you don't!**_" Naruto shouted. "_**Get your ass back here!**_" Deidara had directed the dragon to fly _away _from the battle and toward the forest where he had left Fū. The instant he hit the ground, hand and foot ground up the turf as he sped after him.

The adult-sized dragon wasn't anywhere near as fast as the miniature versions. He was able to easily catch up and even surpass it. He wasn't under any illusions; Deidara most likely knew exactly where he was. Naruto had to strike before the bomber could.

"_**That's far enough!**_" the young ninja roared. He again leapt into the air at the flying clay construct, but purely with the power of the Kyuubi propelling him. The ground collapsed into a crater ten yards in diameter from his launch point, and he flew head-first from the cloud of dust.

The dragon wasn't as maneuverable as the bird Deidara had first flown in on had been, so it was child's play to grab onto its stomach with his clawed fingers and flip his way onto its spacious back.

Deidara made no move to attack him as he mounted. He stood between the beating wings of the dragon, and he looked as if he had seen better days. His face was drawn and pale, covered in minute beads of sweat, and his back was hunched as if it was holding a heavy weight upon his shoulders. _**So… **_Naruto mused. _**This is taking a toll on him already. **_"_**Are you done yet?**_" he asked the cloaked young man. "_**About ready to start explaining yourself? 'Cause I have a few questions for you, and you're not going anywhere without me getting some answers. If I have to rip an arm off to make you talk… well, I'm sure I can keep you alive for a while.**_"

Deidara only had a few short, simple words for the jinchūriki. "Go _fuck yourself._"

Naruto grinned. "_**Oh, you're gonna make me do this the hard way, huh?**_" He took a menacing step forward. "_**That's ok. I don't mind. We'll do it your way.**_" The clay of the statue began crumbling in to minute flakes around his chakra-coated feet. "_**Do you like games? I like games. Games have **_**rules. **_**Games have **_**structure. **_**Games don't allow for chaotic elements. Everything fits; everything conforms to a set of norms. For instance—one of my favorite games is 'who's the better killer.' It's not that complicated, really. Whoever can kill in the best, most original way wins.**_

"_**You see, I used to be a real piece of work when I was younger. Kyuubi manifested before I was able to really control him, so I was kind of a twisted little kid. Killing used to be kinda **_**fun. **_**But when I was put on my team, I had to tone it down a bit. I'm not saying that I was a goody goody or anything, not at all. But I couldn't just let go like I used to. But now… with assholes like you, I can just have some **_**fun. **_**Let's play, Deidara. Who's the better killer? You, with your bombs…" **_He flexed his clawed hand menacingly and meaningfully. "_**Or me, with my fists?**_"

Deidara ground his jaw and spat in Naruto's direction, but the wind lofted it off ineffectually to the side. "Fuck off! This isn't a fucking game, you pinprick!"

Naruto flared his chakra minutely, and the surrounding clay fractured even more. Deidara winced, as if a physical blow was struck upon him. _**Interesting. **_"_**Of course it's a game,**_" Naruto barked. "_**You were having fun when you were winning this little contest, weren't you? Don't deny it, of course you were. You **_**like **_**blowing things up. You enjoy hurting people. All of this—all of these bombs, this bullshit art of yours—you're like a little kid with toys, but now you're throwing a tantrum because you're losing. It's so damn sad, isn't it?"**_

Deidara dropped to a knee and put his palms on the back of the dragon. "Sad? _Sad? _I'm having a blast! I never thought I'd have this much fun in my life!" His eyes glazed into a manic expression. "Who's losing? You're in checkmate, and you don't even know it!"

Naruto cocked his head. "_**Checkmate?**_"

Deidara grinned and nodded energetically. "If it was Kisame-sempai, I'd stay away from water. What the hell do you think you're standing on, baka?"

Naruto looked down slowly at his feet. "_**No. No way. You would take yourself out just to get me?**_"

The older blond laughed, his voice catching with nerves. "That's the question! What do _you _think? Do you respect my art yet?"

Naruto took another step forward and stomped. There was no doubt about it—the link between Deidara and this statue was deep. "_**Respect your… art? This shit?**_" He ground the ball of his right foot deep into the clay. "_**You call this art? I made better finger paintings when I was two. Don't take a crap and call it gold, jackass. Those puppets were art. This? This is absolute trash.**_"

Deidara's eyes widened dangerously. "Trash? _Trash? _I'll give you trash! You and that jinchūriki whore, too!" The dragon banked sharply to the area of forest that he had disappeared into and deposited Fū. "I wonder, where is that girl? Is she still alive? Do you think she can survive a C3 detonation?"

Naruto opened his hand, spreading his pointed fingertips. "_**Who knows? But you wouldn't live to find out, now would you?**_" He lifted a foot to advance on him, but a column of clay shot up to capture his leg and roughly drag him down, his ankle and calf sunk in and encased in a cement-hard shell. His other leg got the same treatment, and when he tried to push himself up with a hand, it too was pulled down. "_**You don't honestly think this'll hold me, do you?**_" he asked Deidara, deadpan.

Deidara grinned. "It'll hold you long enough," he gloated. "Even you can't ignore _physics._" Without warning, all of the clay around Naruto turned from solid to liquid, pulling him down to his chest and holding him fast. He tried to reach out, but any solid purchase had liquefied. His attempt to swim through the muck was just as vain; he was stuck in place, and even the vaunted powers of the Kyuubi no Kitsune couldn't move him a single inch.

Deidara glanced over his shoulder to the forest below. "I'll play your game! Let's see who survives this one! The C3 special I implanted inside of this dragon is the most potent explosive in the world! You and the girl will explode in the greatest artistic display ever! My name will go down in history!" He leapt off of the side of the dragon, a bird poofing into existence beneath him. "Consider it an honor to be a part of my craft, you smug little bastard!"

Naruto turned his head from bomber to ground, a trace of worry on his black-and-red lined face. _**Oh. No. This is not good.

* * *

**_

Hinata took a deep, cleansing breath. _Ok, I'm ready. I think. This should work. _Her Byakugan caught the sight of Sasori a few dozen yards inside the line of trees separating the field and forest. He had stopped as soon as he had realized that she had found a spot to make her final stand. The puppet corps he commanded spread out among the trees, fairly equidistant from her position. There would be no chance to ambush her now; even had she not had the Byakugan, none but the fastest or most clever could surprise her from her station. _All right. This is it. Any moment now. _She grit her teeth in anticipation. _Come on… come on… don't keep me waiting… I haven't got all day… There we go!_

Sasori had over half of his puppets leap out at once in a wave, then half of the remaining following behind them. Their movements were clumsy at first, but as they quickly advanced over open ground, their footing became more steady, more sure.

_Closer, closer! Closer! _Many of the puppets revealed concealed weapons on their rigged bodies.

_Closer! _Half of the front line leapt into the air, their trajectories taking them right at her. Several of the dolls seemed to join together in formation.

_**Closer! **_This voice was Aoiryu's, lending her support to the young woman's fight. _**Not yet!**_

_I know!_

Forty yards distant on the ground, the puppets in the rear rank showed a burst of speed obviously meant to confuse the target and interrupt her tactics, whatever they were. It honestly didn't matter what he did—Sasori's toys would be broken, nonetheless.

Thirty.

Twenty.

Ten.

_**NOW!**_

"_**Hakkeshou Kaiten!**_" Hinata bellowed as she spun around as fast as humanly possible, expelling chakra from each and every single tenketsu on her body. A dome of chakra twenty feet in diameter—twice as large as normal—exploded into existence around her, created from her incredible chakra output and rotation. The forty-odd puppets that had leapt through the air at her collided into it from all angles and were immediately ripped to shreds, splinters, and scrap metal. The shrapnel blasted outward at high velocity, tearing into the dolls on the ground that had not yet made it to their target.

Sasori, to his credit, managed more control over the surviving half of his army than she would have thought possible. In the split second available between the destruction of the airborne mannequins were decimated without mercy and the time the ground-based weapons would have hit the dome, he manipulated them all to jump up and away from the danger of her destructive defense.

Hinata was one step ahead of him, however. Just after the second wave hit the air, she stopped spinning, but moved her arms around her body in a blur of motion. Another dome formed, this one made of lines that bent into a square-by-square grid. In less than half a second, the nin/taijutsu technique was complete. The final phase of her plan could be put into effect.

"_**Shugo Hakke Rokujuuyonshou: KAI!**_" The dome exploded outward in all directions, cutting each and every remaining chakra string in the field, as well as adding to the destruction of the puppets. She knew it would—Hyuuga had, in the past, used chakra blades such as these to take down puppeteers, but as far as she knew, none had nullified so many at one time.

The most important aspect of the jutsu was the fact that the cut strings could not be restrung, at least not for a period of time. The cut strand would still exist, perhaps for as long as five or six minutes, but it wouldn't be possible for Sasori to reconnect to his puppets as long as it was in their gear boxes.

In the span of less than two seconds, the lion's share of one hundred deadly and infamous puppets controlled by Akusuna no Sasori, the greatest puppet master to ever have lived, were destroyed or decommissioned.

She looked around her with calm eyes. To her left, her right, and her front, devastation reigned. Almost a _hundred _puppets lay scattered at her feet, taken down with only two jutsu. For a second, she allowed herself to feel immense pride—she had come _unbelievably _far in the past half year. She had left the shadow of her clan and had blossomed into something that they would be proud to acknowledge as one of their own, if she ever decided to acknowledge them in turn.

_What would you say, father, if you could see me now? _she thought. _Would you be proud? Would you be horrified to see what I have become? _She cast her eyes into the sky. _What would you think, mother? _

Sasori slowly began moving through the trees, his footsteps measured and even. As one not truly alive, he showed no sign of fatigue. He was as fresh as when this whole fiasco has begun. She, on the other hand…

Well, she wasn't exactly on top of her game in the first place. She's spent the past month training, half solo, half accompanied by Naruto. She was tired and sore in places she couldn't even name. Almost all of her stamina had been run through that morning with her lover. She hadn't been pushed to the breaking point—not quite, anyway—but the last two techniques had taken almost all that she could draw from her reserves. She barely had enough energy to stand anymore…

And Sasori still had something like a hundred and fifty puppets under his potential command, and it was entirely likely that he hadn't even used his trump card yet.

_Well… neither have I, _Hinata thought grimly. _I'd hoped that I wouldn't have to use _that _sword so soon, but it looks like I don't have a choice if I'm going to survive this. I hope this works… If not, I'm as good as dead. _She drew her unnamed black sword slowly from its sheath and tapped one of the seals with a finger.

_Kakashi-sensei, thank you for your gift. If it works, I will build you a shrine. _The sword that appeared in her hands was none other than Kakashi had brandished during their first mission to Nagasaki's manor—the Supakamaru itself, the master blade of the Denkou Tosshin no Kami kenjutsu style.

She put the black blade away and readied herself for combat. This style was more geared for defense than offense; with the techniques that the sword would instinctively teach her in the thick of the fight, perhaps—_perhaps _she could survive the day.

Hinata remained still and relaxed, unmoving, for the next ten minutes, even when Sasori was approaching her over the open ground and around the wreckage of his art. She needed to rest and conserve as much energy as she could.

When he was about twenty yards away, he stopped and gazed at her coldly and dispassionately. His wooden lids rose marginally to expose his chestnut eyes. "Did you really think it would be that easy?" he asked her flatly.

Hinata chuckled humorlessly and shook her head. "You know… for a second there… Yeah, I kinda did."

The silent stillness between them lasted for a scant moment…

Then Sasori reached under his robe to pull out yet another scroll from his back, and Hinata charged him with all the speed her legs could muster. A defiant roar bellowed from her throat as her eyes blazed white.

Round two had begun.

* * *

A/N: So, yeah, I know what you're thinking… "If he screws this up, I'm never reading this again." Either that, or "I hope Hinata dies, she's way too OOC." If you're thinking anything else, congrats, you're not a troll.

I hope everyone reads this favorably; I struggled through the middle and end. I just got writer's block, and it took a while to chip away at it. This, on top of my other projects, is taking a lot of time that I might otherwise use. So… yeah.

Dunno when the next chapter will be out, but I'm shooting for two weeks or so. Questions, answers. That's all I got for ya. Scram.

Read and review? Pweeze?


	29. Survivors

A/N: Oh, man. Well, here's the monstrosity that is chapter 29, folks. Banged most of it out in three days or so… Even wrote some during class time. That's right… I wrote my freaking fanfiction in class. I go to culinary school. _Let your mind be blown._

It's the day before Thanksgiving, and all through the house, not a turkey was roasting, not even a… ok, I can't think of a decent rhyme. Sue me. I'm stuck in San Fran for this year's Turkey Day celebrations, which SUCKS. Oh well. I'll be home for Christmas. (Speaking of which, does anyone have any idea what I can get my fourteen-year-old sister for Christmas? Help!)

This is (thankfully) the end of the "Rescue Fū" arc. That's what I call it in my head, anyway. Next begins the "Council of Nine" arc. What is this "Council of Nine" in the first place? … Oh, come on—you think I'll tell? I'm evil. Deal with it.

My other stories are coming along slowly. Don't expect anything for a while (besides Second Chances in a week or so).

Review-answering time.

**Dhaem17: Sorry, bud. This is the last you'll have to deal with this.**

**Dragon Man 180: Enjoy. This might be to your tastes.**

**Sweet Heavens: In response to you, I decided to keep the fights short and sweet. If they suck… sorry.**

**Silver Warrior: THANK YOU! FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, THANK YOU! I keep trying to tell people: Hinata acts OOC BECAUSE SHE IS OOC! She is a different person entirely! She's the same girl at heart, but this is what I think Hinata could be if she was allowed to come completely out of her shell!**

**I love Kill Bill. I was actually watching that the day I finished off the last chapter, and thought it was too good to pass up. Not exactly a subtle placement, but I don't much like subtlety.**

**As for Naruto and Deidara… well, this should answer everything.**

**Twilight- The Moon Spirit****: Um… Yeah. Deidara. About that… Well, just read, and review. You're gonna kick my ass, but still… That's the way it turned out. **

**About ****Fū and Naruto… um, yeah. The way it's shaping up, Hinata could have some good reason to be jealous. Read on. You'll see why, maybe… There are some odd, unfortunate implications in there that I didn't catch until I reread it, but it was too perfect to cut **

**I hate trolls. God. Ugh. But Naruto's house is quickly becoming interesting, isn't it? Makes you imagine how it could end up… **

**Also, I hate it when there are stories where they magically get Akatsuki-level strong before the timeskip era without some extreme justification. I think they're at the right strength level here, though.**

**Ally: (another unregistered reviewer) Again, THANK YOU! You are one of the few people who actually get it!**

**IfOnlyIf: Yeah, sorry bout that. This chapter should settle things for you. Hope you keep on reading, and thanks for reviewing with some truly constructive criticism. **

**Shrumples: (another unregistered reviewer… Seriously people, make an account! We love you here at !) Quick answer: Deidara lied about how much clay he had. He knew that there was someone watching and listening, so he decided to deceive them as best he could. That he lied to **_**Sasori **_**at the same time… Who knows? Maybe he was backing himself up in case Sasori decided he wasn't worth the trouble?**

**Cool cool 2000: I actually have a couple ideas for books on paper right now. Very sporadically continuing with it. Have about half a notebook's ideas worth of a short story done. I enjoy writing fanfiction, though. It is proven that people who are creative dream much less than people who aren't, and for the past two years… almost three… Well, let's just say that I used to have some bad dreams, and this is kinda therapeutic. I just like writing!**

**Kendo14: Thanks man. Glad you like!**

Before We go on, I gotta say one thing: some of you are going to be mad with the way I wrote this story, and I can't blame you one bit. But it's the way it is. If you dislike the creative path I took, I'm sorry. Write a nice, scathing review. At least you'll let me know what I did wrong, right?

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 29**

_**Oh, fuck this shit! **_Naruto screamed internally as the massive dragon fell to the forest below._** Kyuubi, help me get out of this! I can't break free! **_Each and every time he tried to pry an arm from the dragon, the other would be sucked ever deeper into the mucky clay. He felt it siphoning chakra from him at an alarming rate, draining it from his tenketsu as fast as he could draw it from his core.

**I don't know what to do! **Kyuubi roared at his host. **This damn clay is sucking all of my chakra and funneling it into the bomb inside of this thing! The more you struggle, the worse it'll be!**

Naruto roared, his demonic-inclined throat sounding off a gut-wrenching note. _**What should I do, then? Just give up?**_

**No! Stop drawing chakra, and reinforce your shell! If you make it compact enough, you might survive the explosion! That's your only shot!**

The boy shook his head wildly as he thrashed his body. _**But **__**Fū will be killed! I can't let that happen!**_

Kyuubi growled. They were now only six hundred yards away from the forest's border, three hundred or so off of the ground. Deidara had left enough chakra, apparently, to have it guide itself to where Naruto had disappeared from aerial view. It was moving much more slowly than it had with the bomber to pilot, but still, that only gave him less than a minute to escape. **Are you really willing to die for someone you don't even know? **the fox asked wildly. **Because I'm sure not ready to call it quits yet! If you die, it would be extremely inconvenient for me!**

Naruto ground his teeth. _**Just be quiet! I have an idea, but it might not work. I need you to trust me!**_

**Trust **_**you**_**? Why should I give you any trust?**

_**Because it's all we fucking have! Just listen to me, just this once! I need you to disengage the chakra flow from you, and I need you to reconnect it on my mark, got it?**_

The Kyuubi was dumbfounded. **What?**

_**Kill the chakra flow! Three-two-one NOW!**_

Without further consultation, Naruto reached inside himself to where the Kyuubi's power met with his own and severed the link. Instantly, the red chakra shell that enveloped him dissipated, leaving not a trace. His skin was raw and smoldering in patches, peeled back a layer at exposed bits, and steam was issuing ominously at his open wounds.

The instant he let go of his transformation, the dragon ceased all movement. _I knew it! The bastard had set it up to operate with my chakra as a source! Little fucker! _The liquid clay almost instantly stopped sucking him in every time he moved. This, too, was reacting to his demonic chakra. He quickly slogged to the edge of the pool and clambered out, his body covered with muck. He ignored the filth, though, and ran to the head of the dragon.

_There! _he thought, looking down and out over the forest. _That's where I left her! _He wiped his hand of grime and dug it into his hip holster and removed the pronged kunai that he'd found in his father's drawer. Thankfully, it was untouched by the clay muck he had been submerged in.

**What are you doing? **the fox asked anxiously.

Naruto walked to the tip of the dragon's beak, his body nearly horizontal to the ground. _I'm speeding things up! _With all his might, he hurled the kunai at the spot he thought Fū had been deposited. _I seriously hope this works! _He counted the seconds until it slipped into the canopy…

Suddenly, he felt something in his mind activate. The mental connection with the kunai had been triggered. In a yellow flash, he was on the forest floor, beside the tree that the kunai had dug three inches into. He yanked it from the wood and placed it in his pouch.

_Now, Kyuubi! Now!_

At once, he was once again enveloped in the chakra shroud with five tails billowing out from behind him…

He cast his eyes around swiftly to get his bearings. _Where is she, where is she? _He sniffed the air for her distinctive scent. _There! _He turned his head to the left and gave one more sniff. _Yes, over there! _He crashed through the forest, barely taking time to dodge between trees and saplings. In seconds, his greatly-enhanced speed took him to the spot that he had deposited Fū.

She was still there, still unconscious, still helpless. Without a word, he gathered her into his arms, taking care to tone down the corrupting influence his chakra shroud had to not damage her any further. _**Ok, ok, the dragon's that way, so I have to run THAT way! **_he thought anxiously. He began running west as quickly as he possibly could without hurting her any more, leaning his body forward and using his tails to balance himself out. He had no idea how large the explosion from this bomb would be, but it had been actively absorbing his chakra, even for a few seconds, it could potentially be _considerable. __**Move it! MoveitmoveitrunrunRUN! **_Between tree and tree and tree, over a dry streambed, over a pile of boulders there inexplicably…

_**Forget about it and RUUUUUUUNNN!**_

He didn't run far or fast enough.

What sounded like the loudest thundercrack he'd ever heard hit his already-sensitive ears, knocking him dizzy and almost causing him to drop his cargo. The sky lit up white with released energy, bright as a thousand bolts of lightening.

All at once, a mighty concussion tore through the forest, tearing up everything behind him. A quick glance over his shoulder gave him everything that he needed to know: the land was being tossed in an upheaval the likes he had never seen before. The ancient, majestic trees were torn apart as the ground beneath them was raised in a gigantic earthen tsunami.

"_**HOLY SHIIIIT!**_" Naruto screamed aloud. He may have escaped the explosion itself—a miracle in itself—but there was still its aftershock to worry about. _**I fought THAT? **_he asked himself. _**What the fuck was I thinking? **_

He ran as he had never before. _**Come on, Kyuubi! More chakra! MORE FUCKING CHAKRA!**_

**More chakra won't do you any good, kit! You can't go faster than this without dropping the girl and running on your hands, too!**

_**AARGH! I already told you that that's not happening! Can't you do something to help at all?**_

**I can—maybe, maybe I can clear you way! Boy, give all control of your chakra to me! All of it! I have an idea, but I need you to keep running and trust me!**

_**But what—**_

**I said **_**trust **_**me! **

Naruto was losing precious time weaving between trees; the farther west he went, the thicker, larger, and closer together they became. _**Fine! Do what you gotta do! **_He let all control of his power slip to the beast inside of him.

**Good! Now, open your mouth!**

_**What? Kyuubi, I swear, if this is some kind of—**_

**I said open your **_**goddamn mouth!**_

Naruto snapped to obey the demon without anymore hesitation. To his surprise, a ball of condensed chakra appeared a few inches in front of his lips. _**Fox? Fox, what are you doing?**_

**Letting loose, **it grumbled. **Now, shut up. This takes focus to do while moving.**

_**While moving? Focus? What the hell are you talking about? Tell me what you—**_

Without warning, the demon pumped as much chakra as he could into the ball in front of his mouth, then _swallowed _it. Seconds later, a violent wave of crimson chakra, damn near fifteen feet in diameter, emanated from his gut, out of his mouth, and tore apart the landscape in front of him. **There! I cleared a path for you, but I don't know how long you have before it collapses! **The gaping hole revealed before him was a straight line through the forest; trees either had holes blasted right through them, or had large chunks blown off the sides. Either way, he now had an expressway through which to escape the destruction, and he was going to take full advantage of it.

The instant his feet hit the small trench made by the blast, he put all the gusto into his step that he could. Without having to dodge between trees, his speed increased dramatically. Another look over his shoulder confirmed what he hoped—he was moving faster than the explosion's shockwave! He and Fū were safe! _**Finally, something goes my way!**_

A loud crack from the path in front of him brought him back to reality. One of the damaged trees had broken at the point where it had been ripped apart. As it was falling, Naruto realized that he either had to dramatically increase his tempo, or jump over the damn thing when it fell. _**How about option three…**_

Instead of either, he reared back his right hand and pumped as much chakra into it, increasing the size and density of the paw-shaped fist. Without a misstep, it smashed into the wood like a hot knife through butter. Its splinters sprinkled against his face, but he kept on, ignoring the sure catastrophe behind him, only pressing on, pressing on, running, not for his life, but for the girl named Fū…

Seconds later, they were finally out of the trees. Naruto didn't know how far he had run, or how fast he had gone—it was all a blur. He knew that he had never attained such speeds in his young life, though, so realistically, he could be anywhere at the moment.

A small lake was at the forest's edge. _**Perfect! **_He crossed the lake, his footfalls kicking up a wake behind him, and stopped at the other edge of the water. _**Kyuubi! Drop the shroud again! Do it! **_

By now, the fox had learned not to argue with Naruto; usually, the kid had some pretty bright ideas. The red and black chakra dissipated once again, though his skin wasn't nearly as damaged as it had been before.

Naruto slung Fū onto his shoulders and flashed through hand signs. "**Suiton: Mizu no Tate!**" Water from the lake swarmed to surround him and the girl in a shield of highly dense water. He winced as the onrushing tidal wave of earth and trees crashed into the front of his construct, but he held his ground and, more importantly, the tori seal that was the signature sign for this technique. "Come on! _Come on! HOLD IT!_" he roared, the shield weakening as ton after ton of dirt and mud pummeled against his shield. More and more chakra was needed to keep it together, more and more was needed to keep them alive.

Dirt and dust blotted the sun until there was no sun anymore; soil ran over them until they were buried alive, saved only by a wall of water a few inches thick. "_HOLD IT TOGETHER! KEEP IT TOGETHER!_"

The earth finally settled after several long moments of turmoil. No longer was his shield being pounded and battered; but a new problem was now present.

They were buried alive, and he didn't see a single way out.

* * *

_I hate puppets! I fucking hate puppets! _Hinata thought wildly as she backpedaled once again and slashed at the iron sand needles that kept forming around her. _Fuck you, Sasori! Fuck you, puppet with your damn iron sand! Just fuck you! _

Hinata had almost been close enough to cut Sasori with the Supakamaru when he had released yet another puppet from his arsenal. Without warning, black needles shot from its chest compartment at her body.

She had leapt backwards, the spelled sword in her hand automatically swinging to intercept the offending appendage. As soon as they touched, the sand-made metal needle lost physical shape, and Hinata felt a small surge shoot up her arm. _What the… what just happened? _She felt her chakra reserves become minutely replenished, as if she… she had…

_No way! The sword absorbs chakra? I can use this! _What followed was nothing more than her running away from each attack sent out by the puppet, each contact of her blade on the metal siphoning a little bit more chakra, each touch demolishing whatever he made.

The problem was, she was completely on the defensive. Sasori was keeping his distance, his puppet just before him. From what she could deduce, this doll was able to manipulate magnetic forces and shape the sand into various shapes. If she could just get close enough to strike him, the fight could be over in an instant. But every time she tried to advance on him, another lattice of sand tried to enclose her, and if it wasn't for the automatic reaction of the sword, Supakamaru, she would have been dead twice by now.

She had absorbed enough chakra to perform one more Kaiten, though it probably wouldn't be as powerful as before, and it would be a one-shot deal, and would be more exposed and helpless than ever. She had to play this right… _just _right if she was going to survive.

She flipped backwards away from Sasori and his damnable puppet as another network of the iron sand attacked, just barely dodging a dozen or so piercing stabs. The iron weapons chased her and moved as quickly as she moved, effortlessly keeping up with her. The enhanced Byakugan let her keep her body out of harm's way, but only just.

She slid behind a tree as soon as she could and pressed her back against it. With her rear protected, all she had to do was guard her sides, slashing and stabbing left and right at every needle and spar that came her way. With almost-casual flicks of her wrists, her defense became absolute.

_Don't get cocky… this isn't done yet._

The sand withdrew back to Sasori and his doll. More poured from inside of it to collect in front of it, massing in the shape of a ball four feet wide. _What now? _she wondered. She didn't have long to wait; the ball shot forward a foot and instantly morphed into a gigantic shuriken, similar in shape to Sasuke's Fūma weapon. It began spinning rapidly, almost instantly becoming nothing more than a blur. The grass beneath it bent away from the epicenter, rippling in waves.

The Byakugan caught each and every single detail. _Oh… no. No, no! This is so not good! _The iron-using marionette shot its hands forward, and the monstrous shuriken, ten feet in diameter, shot forward at speeds exceeding one hundred miles an hour directly at Hinata's location. Had she been operating on her own steam, she would have been bifurcated. The Supakamaru, however, took over her reactions enough to fall flat to the ground as the tree she had taken refuge behind was sliced in two less than three feet from the ground. For a half second, she felt triumphant, but the spinning disk stopped fifty feet from her almost without decelerating and simply hovered there for a second. _Not good! _

She leapt over the stump that had once been a tree and dashed at Sasori and the dark-haired doll. _Get him before he can get me! That's the only chance I have!_

**Little one!**

_I see it, Aoiryu! _Hinata said to the dragon. _I see it! _She was moving fast—faster than she had ever gone before. The sword in her hands moved her body independently of her will; she had exceeded her physical limitations. Yet as she rushed across the grassy plane at the monster called Sasori, the excessively large shuriken was hot on her tail.

**Use me! Let me—**

_I can make it! Just a little—little bit more—_

She put all the focus she could on the man in front of her and the iron behind her, excluding all else. She was five feet from the summoned puppet… the shuriken was four feet behind her…

She prepared the Juuho Soushiken, chakra forming around her hands in the shape of lion's heads. **You cannot make it!**

_I can make it!_

The shuriken suddenly picked up a burst of speed, catching her unawares. _No! Gods, no! _She closed her eyes, turned, and put her hands in front of her chest in instinctive defense in the last split second she had; it was too close to dodge now, no matter what she did.

_Naruto… I'm sorry.

* * *

_

Deidara sat upon the bird that he had made with the last of his clay. The wind whistled through his hair as he caught his breath—that had been one of the most intense battles he had ever been in, and never once before in his life had he been forced off his creations, much less twice. That Uzumaki kid was a pain in the ass… but at least now he was finished.

The explosion set off by his C3 was _glorious. _He managed to clear the minimum safe distance and then some, but was still rocked by the shockwaves and warmed air decompressing from the blast site. The bird held up—just barely—and he was now coasting aimlessly, trying to figure out what he would now do.

He had just killed two jinchūriki, of that he was sure. Even at full power, there was no way in hell that the Kyuubi brat could survive a detonation of that magnitude, and the girl? Not a chance. She was already out of the picture. All she had left to do was die.

Of course, that was the kick in the pants: he had been sent with Sasori on his first official Akatsuki mission to capture the Nanabi.

And now she was dead.

He sighed and put his head in his shaking hands. He knew he was strong—very strong. He knew that with his intelligence, lauded as genius-caliber, and his bombs, he could be a match for damn near anyone out there. But he was out of clay, and the ones who had recruited him–Kisame and that damn _Uchiha Itachi—_had told him that the cost of failure or betrayal was high, and it could be interpreted that he had done both at once.

_Where to now? _he asked himself. _What now? Is there anywhere that I can escape the reach of Akatsuki? Anywhere? Is there anywhere outside their reach? _Since joining the group, the only ones he'd met had been those who had recruited him and Sasori himself. It was on Kisame's word that they had been assigned together, probably because their unique talents complemented each other so well. But he had yet to meet the leader of this terrorist organization, or to hear its exact purpose. After the humiliation put upon him by Itachi, he was told that he'd be able to use his supreme art to his black heart's content, so he put his anger out of the way and grudgingly accepted the invitation.

Now, two months later, he was contemplating escape from the same men. It would be risky, and quite dangerous to flee—perhaps his clan would accept him back?

He shook his head. He had burned too many bridges to go back home. He barely even missed them anymore. Especially since… _No. Don't think about it. _

An unexpected sound, followed by a slight dip of the bird, made him turn around in a blur. "Hi, Deidara-sempai!"

Deidara groaned. It was Sasori's fool lackey, Tobi. The brat had his uses, but he quickly got on his nerves whenever he opened his mouth. "Tobi, what in the hell are you doing here?"

The masked youth put his hand on the back of his head and ruffled his hair. "Um, I was hanging around, and Leader-sama wanted to know what was taking so long. So, where is she? Huh?"

Deidara grunted. "We've had some… problems. A couple complications came up that we couldn't predict, or take into account for."

"Aaah! What kind of problems? If I go back with bad news, Leader-sama will kill me! Me, then you, and maybe Sasori-sama! Bad day!"

The bomber closed his eyes and slowly counted to ten. If he had any clay to spare… any at all… "After we had captured the Nanabi," he said tersely, "Sasori-sempai refused to let me carry him on one of my birds or dragon sculptures. He opted to _walk _the whole way back to the hideout. I couldn't leave him behind—his puppet body was damaged to the point of falling apart, and he refused to leave it. He wouldn't give me the girl, either, and seeing as I was under his command…" He shrugged half-heartedly. "About forty-five minutes ago, we got ambushed by two young shinobi, a Hyuuga girl and what, to my surprise, was Uzumaki Naruto himself, the Jinchūriki of the Kyuubi. Talk about your coincidences, huh?

"Anyway, we were ambushed. We were separated for a moment, then Sasori gave me the girl to get to the hideout, while he stayed behind to take care of the interlopers. I flew off, but the jinchūriki caught up to me after a bit." His face clouded. "I kinda lost my temper, ok? I lost focus. He unleashed the Kyuubi's chakra, and there was no way I could stand up to that. Before that, he used this weird sword to attack me, and it _flew _to his hand when he lost it! So, I kinda…"

"Kinda what?" Tobi asked eagerly.

Deidara mumbled something under his breath with his head turned away. "What was that?" Tobi asked, a hand comically cupped to his ear.

"I said I might have used a C3 explosive on them and blown them to smithereens!" Deidara shouted. "There! I said it! Happy? Leader-sama is going to kill me, probably, especially since I don't have any clay with me!"

Deidara's unwanted passenger was silent for a moment. He turned back around to the beak of the owl he had created. _Little pisser, _he thought darkly. _Kissing up to Sasori all the time, probably trying to get into the group on his own. Yeah… I'm going to blow him up. As soon as I get my hands on some more clay, I'm going to just blow him to smithereens!_

"You killed the Kyuubi _and _the Nanabi?" Tobi asked. Deidara slowly turned his head; the boy's tone was oddly… _different. _

"I'm pretty sure I killed the bug girl," he said. "From what I know, she was injured and unconscious. No way to defend herself. The Kyuubi _might _have survived, if he ran fast enough, if he managed to escape my trap beforehand. I'd give him… yeah, a twenty-five percent chance. Her, maybe two."

He turned back around and began massaging his temples. "Just—just go back and tell Leader-sama that I'll be back soon, ok? I'll—I'll go out and look for them, see if they're still alive. If so, I'll figure something out. Try to catch them, maybe get Sasori-sama and go after them. Who knows? They could still be alive."

Tobi was silent as the grave. He walked up next to Deidara and sat down, just in front of the wing joint. The clay flexed up and down, moving him a bit in relation to Deidara. "This is fun," he said unexpectedly. "Do you do this every day?"

Deidara cocked an eye at his junior. "What? Fly?"

The masked boy nodded. "Yeah. Fly."

He nodded back. "Yeah… most days, at least. It's fun, being above it all… the world at your feet. Nothing above you, nothing higher than you in the entire world…" A small smile crept to his lips. "I used to be able to fly without my statues… but that was a long time ago. But it's still fun."

Tobi dipped his head. "You're very lucky, Deidara-sempai. I go from one place to another, skipping everything in between. But you see _everything. _I wish I could do what you do."

What? Since when was Tobi _respectful? _"No, you don't," Deidara said. "You don't want to know what I had to do to get… well, _these._" He held up his hands palm-up, the mouths wide open, salivating tongues wiggling eerily in the air.

"I am _not _going to ask!" Tobi said hastily.

Deidara laughed. "Good. It's a kinjutsu in Iwa that… well, you heard of Orochimaru, from Konoha, right?"

"Yeah? What about him?"

"Well, Iwagakure has its own share of wackos who don't have many personal scruples. The difference was, a lot of them were _encouraged _by the administration to experiment. This is the end result of one of them getting their hands on me. I gotta say, though, I like it. Yeah, I like it a lot."

Tobi stood up. "Where are you going? Back to Leader-sama?" He stood up alongside the boy.

"Not exactly," he replied.

"Then… what?"

Tobi leaned in. "Can I tell you a secret, Deidara-sempai?"

A puzzled expression came to his face. "What?"

Tobi looked left, then right—a useless gesture, seeing as they were in the middle of the _air._ "You see… the thing is…" He leaned just a couple inches further in. Entranced, Deidara followed suit.

Tobi's masked face had been slightly to the side, but he turned it until it was level with Deidara's face, his one exposed eye boring through Deidara's pale blue. "_I _am Leader-sama!"

Before Deidara could react, a sword appeared in Uchiha Madara's hand and plunged in the bomber's chest. "Guak!" Deidara looked down helplessly at the sword protruding from his chest. "Y-you!"

Madara nodded. "Yes. Me." He withdrew the blade and kicked the man off the side of his own creation. For a moment, the residual chakra in the bird kept it flapping in the same direction that Deidara had directed it. "You could have been useful," he told the falling body. "I regret it."

He looked solemnly into the sky. "Yes… Flying is fun. It truly is. I'll have to get someone else who can fly to take Deidara's place… Perhaps… Yes, he's a good candidate." He vanished in a warp, not a trace of his presence there… but, of course, for the corpse that collapsed with a dull thud anonymously in the middle of some scraggly scrub.

* * *

_Bzzzzzz… _Hinata could hear the whizzing sound of the kunai cut through the air. Her closed eyes were clamped shut in total fear. Her Byakugan had deactivated in her slight mental breakdown, so for the first time since she and Naruto had encountered Sasori and Deidara, she was totally blind.

_Bzzzzzz… Wait a second… Why aren't I dead? _She opened a single eye a sliver…

The shuriken had stopped less than an inch from her throat. The whirring blades disturbed the air enough to vibrate her neck. It kind of tickled.

She looked up in dread. The monk, Araki, stood on top of the ring in a crouching lotus form. He looked completely serene, an expression of extreme calm in his deep grey eyes.

His staff was driven through the center of the shuriken, and though it strained to slaughter the young Hyuuga girl, it held fast.

Hinata was dumbfounded. "A—A—Araki-s-san," she stammered. "W-what are y-you doing here?"

He looked down on her from his perch. "Hyuuga… Hinata. Hello again. It is good to see you well."

Hinata let out a breath that she didn't know she had retained. "K-kind of a last-minute r-rescue, huh?"

The monk smiled genially at her. "Perhaps I didn't want a pretty young thing like you to become another battlefield corpse?" His face shifted from kind to serious instantly. "Go. Now. Let me take care of this little bit of unpleasantness." His eyes slowly drifted to Sasori, who was watching this exchange impassively. "It's personal."

"Personal? What do you—"

"_Go. Now._"

She nodded, nervous sweat dripping from her forehead. "Y-yes, yes…" She picked up the Supakamaru (which she had dropped, apparently) and, with one last look behind her at Sasori, ran away from the two older warriors.

She didn't stop running until her Byakugan couldn't see them anymore.

She had a boyfriend to find.

Sasori's painted eyes followed the girl as she fled from the scene and turned west, roughly in the direction that Deidara had gone. "Don't even think about it," Araki snapped at the puppetmaster. "You aren't going anywhere, _especially _that way. I'm going to end this right here, right now."

The blank gaze of Akasuna no Sasori held the monk's grey gaze as he slowly circled away from the direction Hinata had gone. "Ainu Araki… the Lost Monk of Konoha. I have heard of you. They say that you left after a friend of yours died. You have quite a bounty on you. Did you know that?"

Araki nodded. "Of course, you fool. It's at… What? Forty million ryo right now?"

"Forty-five. Someone from Iwa put a new price on your head two months ago."

Araki snapped his fingers. "And I'm usually so up-to-date on those too."

"Indeed." Araki didn't turn when Sasori and his puppet entered his blind spot. "In any case, you said this was personal. I've never met you before, though. How is it personal?"

The monk sighed. "I have only had a very few friends in my life. My teammates. My brother. And once—a long, _long _time ago, the Sandaime Kazekage."

Sasori cocked his head. "You were friends with the Kazekage? My, my… what a coincidence. I, over the years, became _quite _close to the Kazekage. In fact, you could say… he's with me after death, even."

Araki inhaled deeply. "Is that supposed to be funny, you sadistic fuck?" he roared.

"Such language from a monk," Sasori muttered. "You must not be very good at what you do."

Araki let a flicker of a smile light his lips. "You know… It's funny you say that." He flickered from existence, his staff remaining behind to hold the rapidly-rotating shuriken in place.

Sasori looked left, then right. _Where did he go? _he asked himself. _Where is… _His musing were cut short when a hole was blasted in his right chest panel, completely destroying the gear box that generated chakra strings. The Kazekage puppet collapsed with nothing left to instruct it to support itself.

Sasori turned around slowly. His own mobility was unaffected, but he could no longer control any of his dolls. He would have to use… himself. He began running checks on his own gimmicks. They ran on a separate chakra network than his precious puppets—connected directly to his heart. "You could have killed me," he said. _Flamethrowers, check. _

Araki was pointing his right index finger at Sasori. "I know," he said. "I saw that… that _thing. _I figured it was your core. Whatever was left of _you. _I didn't want to touch that… not yet." He extended his middle finger. "I want you to see just how helpless you are."

_Cable spool… check. Manipulators… check. _"Me? Helpless? I think you underestimate me, has-been." _Hip blades… check. Blade turbines… check. All systems go. _"Even without my puppets, I am more than skilled enough to destroy you." _He's fast. I have to keep an eye on him. _

"If you think you can kill me, then do it. I don't have all day."

Sasori kept supremely still for exactly one second. "Then die." He raised both hands and let out twin gouts of flame from pipes embedded in his palms. Not wanting to wait to see if his attack had succeeded, he leapt into the air and deployed his thigh blades and began rotating them at extremely high speeds to maneuver through the air and away from the raging fires. He couldn't truly fly, but with the propulsion he could move several hundred feet before having to touch down on ground again.

_There's no way that got him. He is much too fast. But where is he? _The plume of fire he'd created had died down, leaving nothing but ash and smoldering grasses, but no charred corpse. He looked left, then right, then swiveled his head completely around behind him and back again. _Up! _He shot his hands toward the sky and blasted… _nothing. I could have sworn I sensed—_

He was sure of it this time. _Behind! _Another gout spewed from his palm, his double-jointed shoulders flipping backwards in an instant. _Did I get him? Where is he?_

Before he could react, Araki appeared in front of Sasori. "Surprise." He thrust his palms at the puppet's shoulders, and some invisible force blasted them and his arms from his body. Wooden splinters and metal shrapnel peppered the air as he leapt back, the blades attached to his hips slashing forward at the monk to cover his retreat.

Araki held his hands in the air in the path of the whirring cyclones of death. They stopped instantly, immobile, trapped in an instant. "What?"

For a second, Araki held his ground. Then, with obvious effort, he spread his hands violently to his sides, ripping the blades and attached rods from Sasori's body.

True fear crept through Sasori's soul. _No! No! This cannot be happening! _He turned to run, an awkward experience as unbalanced as he was without his arms. _I am Akasuna no Sasori! I am the greatest puppeteer in the world! I am—_

Araki teleported in front of Sasori after letting him run for a few seconds. "You are done."

"_How?_"

The monk put his hand on Sasori's chest, just over the odd emblem that signified his core. "Easy. I'm good. You're evil. The Buddha shines upon me."

Sasori's stomach compartment slid open, a cable with a pointed end dashed straight at Araki's gut. It stopped short an inch from his robes, as if an invisible field protected him. At that instant, he knew who he was facing… who this living legend before him really was. He was the greatest fear of every sinner… every man and woman with a black heart on the continent. He was the single figure to kill more foes than Sasori himself.

"I know you. Ranged chakraless techniques. Shield. Telepathy. Teleportation. Tengu. You are Tengu."

Araki smiled wryly before charging his chi to his palm. "At your service."

Sasori's heart disintegrated in an instant, shards of wood and metal and blood and flesh blowing backwards, catching adrift in the mild wind. The puppet's body collapsed; with nothing left to give it life, it was nothing more now than a ragged pile of scrap.

Araki sighed. Sometimes, it simply wasn't easy to be a monk. He pulled a cigar from inside his robe and lit it with a long-stemmed match. Some old habits were hard to break.

* * *

"_Narutoooo!" _Hinata cried desperately as she ran over the ruined landscape. "_Narutoooo! Where are you?" _Churned earth and fallen trees covered the ground, radiating out from a horrifying center that was obviously ground zero of an explosion the likes of which she had never even conceived. "_Naruto!_"

Her Byakugan couldn't find him anywhere. She strained it to its maximum, then limited her focus to sweep in zones that much further. Where was he? Where could he be?

_What if… _Tears stung her eye as she ran. _What if he was… was killed? What if that explosion got him? W-what if he…_

_No! He wouldn't let that happen to him! He's alive! I know it! Just think… if I were Naruto, where would I be? _She glanced up for a second, but realized how ridiculous it would be for him to be in the air. _But then where—_Cold dread filled her heart as she realized the only option remaining. "He's underground," she muttered. "No, this isn't good. Aoiryu! Switch the Byakugan to scan thermal frequencies! If he's underground, that would make it easier to find him!"

**Good idea, Hinata. Switching now.**

An instant later, she was no longer seeing the world in the usual high-definition view her eyes showed. Instead, bright reds, yellows, and oranges danced and mingled over every surface as the sun's rays bounced off them and radiated in seemingly random patterns. _If he's underground, he should show up like a bulb! _She cast her eyes to the ground and telescoped her vision down… down… down.

She kept only the bare minimum focus on the ground before her as she ran across the broken land at maximum speed. It was only with the aid of the Supakamaru that she was even still standing—without the chakra that she had absorbed from those weapons of Sasori's weapons, she would probably be dead exhausted on the ground.

"Where is he?" she muttered to herself, the dank cold earth under her feet giving her nothing to work with. "Where is… huh."

**What is it? **Aoiryu asked.

_That patch of blue down there… it's different from the other blue around it. I can't penetrate it, though. That may be him! Aoiryu, can you switch back to the visible spectrum? …Thank you._ She gasped. _There! Right there! That's a dome of water! Naruto knows that technique! It has to be him! I can't see through it, but I'm positive it's him! _She changed course, then stopped running the instant she got to the spot directly above where he was buried. _But how am I going to get him out?_ She bit her lip; she knew some Doton techniques, but nothing on the scale that this would need.

_Maybe he's got a plan… maybe he doesn't. If I do something rashly, I could end up making it worse than it already is. I can't let that happen!_

**You are close enough to communicate with him,**Aoiryu told Hinata. **If you meditate, you may be able to enter your mental landscape and encounter him, if he is receptive.**

_Got it. Thank you, Aoiryu. I don't know what I would do without you._

Hinata felt the warm assurance flow from the draconic woman. **Let us hope you never find out, my dear. Now, seek out your lover, and hope that he can respond.**

_Yes. _She crouched down on one knee and placed her hand flat on the disturbed earth. She slipped into a meditative state, months of practice making it second-nature to fall to semi-consciousness instantly. She opened her mind's eye and found herself standing in a dark, empty void. "Naruto? Naruto! Listen to me! It's me, Hinata! I'm above you, on the surface, right now! Please, if you can hear me—respond!"

Several moments went by with nothing coming back. "Naruto! _Naruto, _damn it, answer me! You had better be alive! Aoiryu, can you contact Sando? If Naruto's unconscious, maybe he can reply?"

Aoiryu materialized beside the girl. "Aye. I can do that." She looked off into the distance, her long blond hair barely rustling with movement. She had a far-off look, and seemed to be caught up with something. "Sando is there… He is helping Naruto keep his shield maintained. It is taking incredible concentration to hold the Mizu no Tate with that many tons of earth crushing down upon him. Sando says that any further disturbance could make it collapse. If Naruto could, he would be here with you, but all of his focus is in keeping him and the girl alive."

Hinata's breath caught in her throat. "She's alive, then?"

Aoiryu nodded. "Yes, but… perhaps not for long. Your Uzumaki is weakening by the minute. He has already exceeded the amount of demonic chakra he can draw on for the day and his own is fading fast."

Anger bubbled up inside Hinata. "So, what does this mean? You're resigning him to _die_? He can't die from something like this! Not after all we've been through! I refuse to accept it!"

"You may not have a choice," Aoiryu said gently, softly.

Hinata turned on her spirit. "No! There is always a choice! There is always a way to change! Naruto taught me that!" She turned her voice to the void above them and bellowed. "NARUTO! I KNOW THAT YOU CAN HEAR ME! NOW, YOU LISTEN TO ME! YOU WILL NOT DIE! DO YOU UNDERSTAND? YOU ARE _NOT GOING TO DIE ON ME! LIVE! SURVIVE! _IF YOU HAVE TO SCRATCH AND CLAW YOUR WAY BACK TO ME, YOU DO IT!"

She fell silent, the wind from her sails. Aoiryu approached her from behind and placed her hands on the young girl's shoulders. "He heard you," the woman said gently. "He heard you, and it was enough. He will live on. You of all people know the effect you have on him."

Hinata nodded numbly. "I know," she whispered. "He's a survivor. He's a fighter. He'll come back to me. He'll have that g-goofy grin on his face, then he'll c-crack some joke a-about being l-late…" Tears were streaming down her face, both in the mindscape and, most likely, in reality.

Aoiryu lowered herself to her knees and wrapped her arms around Hinata's torso, pulling the girl close in to herself. "Shh… shh… Do not cry, little one," she crooned. "He's alive yet. There is always a chance. Just wait and see…" Very quickly, the breast of her silken gown was stained with innocent tears of worry. "Just wait… Just wait…"

* * *

"…_CLAW YOUR WAY BACK TO ME, YOU DO IT_!"

Naruto grinned ear-to-ear through his shaggy sweat-stained hair that was now hanging limply over his eyes and to his mouth. _Damn, I love that woman! _he thought with pride. _Ugh… _His hands were beginning to cramp in the tori sign. "I can't waver!" he said aloud. "I can't fall!" Carefully, _very _carefully, he sat down on the earth beside Fū. "Hey! Wake up!" He nudged her in the side with the toe of his shoe. "Wake up! We're about to die, and I need your help!"

The girl moaned after a moment and stirred, raising her head to stare up at him. She was set on her back, and she looked much the worse for wear. Dirt smudged her skin, streaked her hair, and stained her clothes. She had somehow gotten a cut on her forehead in their flight, and the amount of blood pooling in her hair was beginning to worry him.

She opened her mouth to speak, but coughed, a small puff of soil escaping. She hacked and spat, the minute glow of blue chakra-infused water illuminating the crusty wad as it hit the floor. "S-shut up, asshole," she said weakly. "I'm trying to s-sleep over here…" Her head fell back to the floor, hitting with a dull thud.

"Damn it!" he shouted. "Wake the fuck up, or we both die!" When she was unresponsive to his verbal provocations, he knew that he was going to have to take it a step further. _I hope this works. _He nudged her broken ankle with his foot.

The response was immediate: her eyes opened all the way, her red orbs almost glowing in the dark. "_AAAAAHHRRR!" _Her back arched off of the ground in pain, agony. "You little shit, wait until I get my hands on you! I'm going to kill you!"

Naruto chuckled dryly. "I'm sorry, Fū. Believe me. But I need you awake if we're going to get out of here."

Fū grimaced and clenched her jaw. "Where—_ah—_is _here, _exactly?"

He looked at her grimly. "My best guess would put us about twenty or thirty feet underground."

Fū's jaw went slack. "Under…ground?" She shook her head incredulously. "You better explain… and it had _better _be a good story!"

Naruto laughed and gave her the quick version, culminating in the C3 detonating and them getting buried under tons of rock and dirt. "I see…" She closed her eyes. "So, we're fucked."

Naruto shook his head. "No. We're not fucked. I've managed to hold this long enough, but I don't know how much longer I have. I need you to heal and use whatever jutsu you have to get us outta here. You _do _have some doton jutsu, right?"

Fū laughed. "Sorry, buddy. All I have in elemental techniques are Katon and Fūton, along with the basics. I know a buncha sound-based techniques, but without my weapon, those are kinda useless."

The blond shook his head and closed his eyes. _Shit. _"What about healing? Can you do that?"

"Um… about that… Healing takes up a bunch of chakra, and I'm almost out. If I could absorb some from you, I might be able to manage it… I don't know."

"How do you absorb chakra?" he asked.

"I kinda… suck blood. The more blood I suck, the more I can convert into chakra."

Naruto's stomach turned. "Oh, hell no. Not just no, but _hell _no. Next option, please. Can you transform?"

She shook her head. "The Nanabi is great at fighting, but I need a decent amount of my own chakra to kick-start the transformation process. If I don't have enough, I could be hurt by the morphing process. I wouldn't be any use to you then, either."

He opened his eyes and stared into hers. She was in critical pain, but she was toughing it out without excessive complaints. For her to let go of that pain, he'd have to let her bite him. He had gone through all of this to save her life—risked explosive disintegration, even. Maybe… Maybe…

Naruto sighed. "Son of a bitch," he muttered. "How much blood do you need?"

Her crimson eyes lit up. "In the condition I'm in, about a pint. Maybe more."

He ground his teeth. He knew that he produced blood much more quickly than the average human, but he was smaller than an adult male. He had no clue how much blood was in his body, but knew that a pint from him in his state could be dangerous, even for him. "How quickly can you transform? To what tailed state?"

She bit her lip. "I can… if I push it… maybe five tails?"

"Is that enough to get us out of here? Can you save me _and _you?"

She nodded. "Easily. Of the Bijuu, the Nanabi is the physically strongest. I can bench more than anyone I've ever met. Tearing through some dirt will be a cinch."

Naruto winced at the thought of what he was about to give her permission to do. "Do it, then," he said through tightened teeth. He scooted over to her and offered his leg. "If I release the seal, the dome collapses and we both die."

She propped herself on her elbow, wincing at the movement. "Not the calf," she said. "The meat's too tough." She gripped the hem of his shorts and pulled them up and over his knee with her teeth.

Naruto shivered at the familiar, yet alien, sensation of cloth sliding on and over his skin. "My thigh?" he asked nervously.

"Mmmhmm. There's a reason ham is the best part of the pig."

"So I'm livestock now, huh? Just freaking great." She put her lips on a spot on the top of his thigh, not so much kissing is as spreading saliva. "What the hell are you doing?" he asked.

"My spit has some antiseptic, antibiotic, and anesthesia qualities. It makes it safer to take blood without either of us getting sick. Human mouths are notoriously dirty, you know?"

"Just get on with it," he said, beginning to regret this already. "How long do you plan—OH!" He nearly jumped when her lips pierced his skin. It stung, though not as much as it should have.

He felt his blood slowly drain from him; he'd bled excessively before, so he was well-aware of the sensation. "How long does… hssss… this… usually take…"

She mumbled something with her mouth still on his opened flesh. "What?"

She jerked from his leg and looked him in the eye. "I said," she said, blood coating her mouth, "shut up and let me do this!" She dove back to his thigh and resumed her macabre suckling.

Her left arm suddenly healed itself with a dull pop, followed by her left, then her ankle. She crawled onto her hands and knees, her mouth not moving from his thigh an inch. The cuts on her skin seemed to be closing themselves… she was more energetic than before…

"Fū? I think you're done, Fū. Fū! Stop sucking my blood! Fū! Stop! _Enough already!"_

She fell away from him in a blur. Falling back on her knees, propping herself up with her hands, back arched, dirty stomach exposed, pert chest heaving in and out, body quivering… "That was… *huff huff* fucking_ incredible. _I've never sucked the blood of another Jinchūriki. You are _delicious _Uzumaki!"

Naruto cast a wary glance to his leg. "You've had enough, Fū. I'm not a vending machine. I have a freaking _finite _amount of blood. Now get busy getting us out of here, please! Between you sucking my blood and my chakra exhaustion, I don't know how much longer I can hold out! Hurry!"

She wiped her bloody chin on her forearm… then _licked _it clean. "No problem. Gods, your blood is rich. This shouldn't be a problem." She flashed through strange hand seals, ones that he had never seen before. "This is a jutsu that was developed to control the Nanabi more easily… When I tell you, let go of your jutsu, ok? Trust me. You saved me two or three times already, and I'm not going to let blood like yours get away!"

Naruto chuckled. In his circle of weird friends, she had to be somewhere near the top of the list. "Just hurry, please…" A dizzy wave hit him hard. "Hurry…" Colors began to run.

"Now, Uzumaki! Release!"

Naruto felt his hands slip… saw something from a nightmare appear in front of him…

Felt arms wrap around his torso and haul him through dirt, shockwaves blasting through the ground above them…

Open air once again…

Falling to the ground…

Hinata

Tears

Black

* * *

She had popped from the ground like a rocket, insectoid wing sprouting from her back, an odd whip-like tail sprouting from the base of her spine, her skin armored and coarse.

She had set Naruto down on the ground as soon as she saw Hinata and devolved back to her regular appearance. "Who're you?" she asked the girl as she crouched down by the boy.

Hinata looked up at Fū angrily. "I am Hyuuga Hinata, and this Uzumaki Naruto—the Kyuubi Jinchūriki."

Fū nodded. "I knew who he was. He introduced himself just a few minutes ago before we showed up. I'm Kazeto Fū, of Waterfall. He's fine, I promise, just exhausted. He pushed himself pretty damn hard to keep me alive. You have no idea how grateful I am, Hinata-san. If it weren't for him, I'd be pretty damn dead by now, probably."

"You don't see something like that every day," Araki said pleasantly, coming up from behind Hinata. She turned around to see the monk approaching, his staff clanking dully on the ground as he used it to navigate the broken land. "Explosions… Fights… Girls springing out of the ground like bean sprouts. Makes an old heart go jumping."

Hinata sighed. "So, you beat Sasori?"

He turned serious. "Yes. I beat him. He's dead."

She was oddly satisfied. "Good. I'm glad."

Fū looked at her incredulously. "Waitaminute… _You _beat the guy who took _me _down?"

Araki allowed a small smile. "Let's just say that I'm _really _good at being a bad monk."

Hinata couldn't help it. She began laughing… and laughing… and laughing until it hurt to even breath. She laughed until her chuckles got caught in her throat, until she had to sit down else she would fall over. She laughed so hard she lay on her side and pulled her knees to her chest, almost sobbing with the effort.

Fū looked at Araki quizzically. "Is she always like this?" she asked.

The monk shrugged his shoulders. "Beats me. I just met her about two hours ago. More jolly than any Hyuuga I've met, though."

Hinata stood up, supporting herself by putting her hands on her knees, chuckles still escaping her mouth. "Are you ok?" Fū asked, honestly worried for the girl.

"Y-yeah, I'm ok," she said, wiping a tear from her eye. "It's just been a hell of a day and… and… it felt good to laugh after all that being terrified." She grinned happily. "Now all we have to worry about is that Deidara guy… and escaping without their backup…" The smile disappeared in a flash. "Now that I think about it, we should go. Now." She crouched down next to Naruto and began to hoist him over his shoulders. "Listen, Fū—we don't know how many of these guys there are, or where they are, or if there are any more coming this way. You need to go away, as fast as you can. Stick to populated places if you can. Go home."

Hinata was strong, especially with chakra supporting her. But she was out of chakra, and almost dropped Naruto on his head after three steps. Fū caught them as she fell backwards. "You're going all the way back to Konoha like this?" She shook her head. "I don't think so, sweetie." She gently took Naruto from her and put him on her back piggyback style. "I'll carry him for you. I still owe him a couple. This should pay it off, right?"

Hinata smiled gratefully. "Yes, it should. Thank you, Fū-chan." She looked over her shoulder at Araki. "Would you like to come… Araki-san? Or should I call you _Tengu-sempai _instead?"

Araki's jaw dropped. "How did you… how'd you know who I was?"

She smiled again. "I'm the new Aoiryu."

"Ah. Is that a fact." He began walking briskly northwest. "Well, keep up. We have to hurry." He had gone almost twenty feet before Fū could react and move after him.

"What's the hurry?" Hinata asked, sidling up to him. "If we have you, we shouldn't have to worry about those guy's backup, right?"

Araki looked down on her, anger in his eyes. "I'm not worried about that, girl," he said. "I'm going back because I have to see the Hokage. The fact that you need an escort is merely a coincidence at the moment."

She slid in front of him, hands up. "Woah, hold on, Araki-san. What do you need to see the Hokage for?"

He drove the butt of his staff into the ground. "I am very, _very _angry with the old man right now. I need to talk to him to get it off my chest." He walked around the girl and marched on, just as Fū caught up.

"What's going on?" the jinchūriki girl asked in a muffled voice to Hinata.

The Hyuuga girl looked away. "It's something that I can't get too deep into," she said. "But it's safe to say that my Hokage is about to be in trouble with an extremely angry monk." She smiled. "With all that he's put me and Naruto through lately, this should be pretty interesting to watch."

Fū cocked an eyebrow. "Seriously? Is this guy that strong?"

Hinata nodded. "I think so. He beat Sasori, anyway. I don't think that it'll come to blows, but the old man deserves to be chewed out."

"Ahh… Ok. You selling tickets? Cause this should be pretty interesting."

Hinata merely smiled, chuckled, and shook her head. They had a long, long way to go to talk… "We'll discuss that later," she said. "For the moment, let's just worry about the trip, ok?"

Fū nodded. "Deal. And so we go."

* * *

A/N: So, yeah… Some of you are probably crapping your pants mad at me. Sorry.

Review please.

Merry Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays, friends.


	30. Crucial Council

A/N: Holy crap. I actually got this done in less than a few weeks. Give me a prize!

…Or don't. Anyway, I'm extremely happy with what I've done with this chapter. It's fun to write! A couple parts had me giggling like a schoolgirl the whole time I was putting it down… It shouldn't be too hard to figure out which parts. I love writing comedy as much as anything else!

I hope that this lives up to your expectations. I actually had fun writing this. I even got to vent some frustration once or twice. Felt kinda good.

I'm enjoying life right now. Seriously. For the first time in a good while, I like being _me. _Can you imagine just waking up one day and suddenly realizing that you actually like who you are? It's almost like attaining enlightenment. You gotta try it sometime.

Review answer time!

**Ifonlyif: Well, I usually don't give much credit to what members of the Akatsuki say... How many blatant lies has Madara told already? I think Itachi saying that they hated humanity was just him trying to dishearten Naruto. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's the way I view it. Any clinging ideas that Fu hates the world will be stricken. It'll make you smile, trust me.**

**Dragon Man 180: Yeah, about Araki. I know that he exhibited techniques that seemed similar to those that the Sage of Six Paths had, but I have to stress that he is NOT in any way related to the legend. His abilities are a product of a unique brain structure and history. Most likely, though, if it helps, he may have had shinobi in his family tree long ago and he inherited those techniques from them.**

**Also, as for Madara holding the idiot ball. Yeah, he was an idiot. I theorize that Madara is as of now pretty much controlled at times by his impulses. That explains why he does some pretty off-the-wall stuff sometimes. He decided that Deidara was a liability, so he killed him without hesitation.**

**As for Fu, she actually morphed her body and sprouted wings and a stinger. I figure, if her body is covered by an exoskeleton, it would make sense for the rest of her anatomy to adapt as well. She can most likely form a cloak, but it had different purposes.**

**pegp: The final remaining Sanseirei will eventually surface, but not for a while. Don't hold your breath, buddy.**

**Takin' Time: Enjoy! Make a dang profile!**

**zipscool: Glad you like everything, amigo. I do try, ya know. I also completely understand what you mean by music, believe it. Also, I do try to catch my grammer, but a mild-but-irritating case of dyslexia lets a few things slip by every now and then. It blows, but I'm surviving.**

**Shrumples: Nah, Fu isn't going to defect. She and her village are on good terms with Konoha, though she may stay for a little while, or become a regular character after a while. Who knows? And by the way-Make a dang profile already! Geesh! lol**

**Ally: The ways of eluding the instructor chef and writing are mysterious and weird. Sorry about Deidara, but sometimes characters have to die. Don't worry... He might come back again one day... *BWAHAHAHA***

**Reaper142: I am totally stoked that someone caught that reference! Brownie points to you, my friend!**

Well, that's all I got to say. Please enjoy the story! R&R!

* * *

**Chapter 30**

Hagane Kotetsu was extremely on edge. From the time that he had gotten up that morning, he had not had an especially great day. If it wasn't one thing, it was another. Guard duty at Konoha's main gate was a lot more stressful than most people gave it credit for.

When he was told to keep a lookout for people approaching the gate, he kept a weather eye on the road. But when the freaking _Hokage himself _told him, in no uncertain terms, to alert him immediately at the _first _sight of either Uzumaki Naruto or Hyuuga Hinata, his nerves were shot to hell and back.

_Damn it, _he thought grumpily. _It just had to be my turn… Freakin' Izumo and his day off… I'm going to kick his ass when I see him again… _Honestly, he loved Izumo like a brother, had since they had graduated the Academy together and been put on the same team. They had been through a lot… seen a lot. Done a lot. But when he opted to take a vacation day that _just happened _to coincide with this kind of assignment?

Coincidence?

_Oh, hell no. "Emergency gardening club meeting" my ass._ He didn't much mind gate duty every now and then. Most of the time, it was simply a matter of keeping an eye on incoming and outgoing shinobi, the occasional client, and the rare visitor from out of town.

If it had been a regular day, he could have, maybe, _relaxed _a bit. But with the old man's orders, he couldn't do anything but stand at military attention and keep his full attention on the horizon. _Any minute now… they should be in sight. _

Unfortunately for him, at that exact minute, unbeknownst to him, the two he was on the lookout for were still two hours or so from sight.

Poor, poor Kotetsu.

* * *

No matter how quickly he healed, basic soreness could not be taken care of by the fox. All of that hardcore running he'd done while dodging Deidara had a real-world side-effect: _friction rash. _He couldn't take a single step without wincing. Hinata and Fū almost hurt their faces suppressing smirks as he duck-waddled in front of the group. _Just another few miles, _he told himself as they passed a mile marker on the roadside. _Just a few miles until we get home… _

"Relax, Naruto," Fū said, barely able to keep her face straight. "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, after all."

Just a few more miles…

"Better get hopping if you're ever going to get anywhere," Hinata added, unable to keep a smile held back.

"Just put one foot in front of the other, Naruto-kun," Fū laughed.

He ground his back teeth and closed his eyes. _A few… more… miles…_

"Knock it off," Araki snapped.

"Relax, Araki-san," Fū said lightly. "We're just bored, and it's fun to tease little Naruto-chan." She ruffled the boy in question's hair, much to his annoyance. "If we could just go hopping in these trees, we could be there in like ten _minutes. _It's not our fault he has heat rash still, is it?"

Araki put a hand to his forehead and swept it through his lightly-grey hair. "Technically, it _is _your fault, girl. He got that rash because he was saving _you."_

Fū turned her head over her shoulder and stuck her tongue out at him. "A technicality. I'm grateful, but he did all that running, not me. Anyway, as soon as you drop these two off at Konoha, I have to get back home. I shoulda been home two days ago. They're probably worried sick."

"Hmm?" Naruto looked back at his fellow jinchūriki. "You have family back at Taki?"

Fū nodded. "Yeah, my grandfather and my uncle. My mom died in the last war and I never… I never met my father." Her eyes clouded. "Nobody ever told me anything about him, not even when I asked. Ever."

Naruto winced. "I'm sorry. I never met my dad, either. But at least you have those two, right?"

Fū smiled a kind smile. "I guess I do. It was gramps who taught me all of my sound-based jutsu—most of them, anyway. My uncle taught me the rest, really. My Jounin instructor was pretty useless, to be honest."

Naruto smirked. "Yeah… I know what you mean."

Hinata backhanded him on his elbow. "Hey! Kakashi-sensei's not useless!"

Fū stopped suddenly. Naruto and Hinata turned to look back at her stunned expression. "What?" Naruto asked. "Is something wrong?"

"I… you… Hatake Kakashi's your Jounin-sensei?" she asked quietly.

Naruto nodded, a feeling of foreboding creeping over him. "Yeah. He is. Is there a problem, Fū?"

She shook her head. "No. No problem." She picked up the pace. "There's just a question I have to ask him." She passed Naruto, her longer legs and faster step quickly making it irksome to keep up. Hinata and Araki shared a glance; the elder sighed, and they, in turn, moved in time.

"What do you need to ask Kakashi?" Naruto quizzed the girl.

"It's personal."

"Woah." Naruto slid in front of her and faced her and spread his arms out wide. "Hold on a second." Fū stopped, but looked down the few inches she had on him in annoyance. "Listen to me for a minute, ok? If you're gonna—I don't know, try some revenge thing, just think it over, ok? You're our _guest. _Don't go attacking people!"

Fū tilted her head. "Revenge? Attacking? What the hell are you talking about, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto put his arms down. "Um… in our line of work, people usually want to hurry to meet each other to _kill _each other. So indulge me, ok? What do you want with Kakashi-sensei?"

The green-haired girl tilted her head and frowned… then smiled and chuckled, then put her fingertips to her lips. "You- oh, gods, Naruto! You thought I wanted to kill Kakashi?" She shook her head ruefully and dug into her side pouch. "Our villages are allies! Why would I wanna kill him? No, no, it's this." She pulled a tattered booklet from the bag and frowned. "Damn. Only half the pages survived…"

Naruto snatched the papers from her hand. Fū's eyes opened wide in panic. "Hey! Careful with that, ok? You have no idea how long it took me to collect some of those!"

He sighed and loosened his grip, though didn't let go. "What is this?" he asked.

Fū ran a hand through her bangs and swept them to the side. "Ok, just listen for a second, ok? I have this hobby, and sometimes it gets me into some trouble…"

Naruto opened the booklet gingerly—the front pages had taken a lot of damage in her fight with Deidara and Sasori, but only the first five or six. After that, the edges of the bound papers were singed, but intact and legible.

"A bingo book?" Hinata said. "A _bingo _book? I thought you said you—"

"No!" Fū interrupted. "Just look in it!" A faint blush crept over her heavily tanned face.

Naruto eased the book open. From what he could see, instead of X's over names, indicating targets eliminated…

His jaw dropped in shock. "No way," he said. "You're using a bingo book to collect autographs?"

Fū chuckled. "Um… Yeah, about that…"

Naruto flipped page to page. Each one had at least three or four signatures on it, a few of them with three or four in a row. Not a single name or photo was X'd, however. "You've gotta be kidding me," he said. "All these guys… Iwa, Konoha, Kiri… Who the hell _issued _this book?"

Fū snatched it out of his hands. "For your information, I pulled this off of a wandering ninja a couple years back. It was brand new, and apparently he was coming after _me _for a bounty." She opened it to a page near the back to a page full of Taki ninja. Each and every face on that page had an autograph, save for her own. "I took it and kept it as a reference tool. A couple weeks later, I ran into someone from Iwa in here. I didn't have a reason to fight, so for laughs I asked for his autograph. A little while later, I saw someone in a pub from Kiri who just happened to be… _here._" She jabbed at a particularly singed page. "Eventually, it became a hobby of mine. In fact, I was about to ask that Deidara punk for _his _autograph before he and Sasori began trying to kill me!"

"I… see. Hmm. Ok." He grinned and took it back from her.

"What're you doing?" she asked.

He opened it up to the middle of the book where the Konoha shinobi were. "I'm just looking for me," he said. "You oughta have my signature, too, right?"

Fū palmed her face. "That thing's two years old, baka. You're not in it. If you were, I'd have recognized you before you gave me your name."

Naruto shrugged. "Fine then. I'll just find an empty spot and write it there."

"Why the hell would I want your autograph?" Fū asked. She tried to take her bingo book back, but Naruto danced out of the way while pulling a pen from inside his tunic.

"Cause I'm going to be the Hokage one day! So my autograph is going to be a collector's edition someday, got it?" He scribbled his name on a blank page at the back of the booklet just before she took it from his hands.

"Whirlpool… Fish Paste?" Her lips twitched. "_Whirlpool Fish paste?_" She burst out laughing uproariously. "Oh my god! Your name means 'fish paste'! I'm going to frame this page for sure!"

"No! Not 'fish paste'! My name is Uzumaki Naruto! Got it? I am _Uzumaki Naruto!_" He tried to grab the book once again, but she raised it above her head and grabbed him in a headlock.

"Oh, relax, Naruto-kun. You can have it back when you become Hokage, got it? Until then, this is mine, all mine!"

Naruto wiggled out of her grip. "I'll hold you to that!"

Fū chuckled and walked on. Araki had ignored their antics and continued before them; he was now at least fifty feet further down the road than the younger warriors.

Hinata hooked Naruto's elbow in the crook of her own. "Oh, come on, _Fish Paste. _Not too much further now."

Naruto thrust his head to the sky and crowed. "_I am Uzumaki Narutooooo!_"

* * *

_I really ought to hire a secretary, _Sarutobi thought ruefully as he massaged his aching wrist._ I am getting too old for this foolishness. _Sarutobi had spent the late morning and early afternoon plowing through a backlog of the greatest enemy of every Kage of every elemental nation—_paperwork._

_Let's see… ah, a requisition for approval of an increased purchase of iron and nickel ore for the smelting pits…_ For the umpteenth time that day, he slapped his black rubber stamp in place of his signature_. If I didn't have to read everything, this would be so much easier. Nidaime-sama… you are ever my hero. But if I had known this was the biggest part of being Hokage, I don't know if I'd have ever put on the funny-looking hat._

"Hokage-sama!" Sarutobi looked up from his paperwork to see young Kotetsu kneeling on the other side of his desk.

_Thank heavens! _"Kotetsu-kun. By coming here, I assume that means that young Naruto and Hinata are approaching Konoha, correct?"

The ranked Chuunin nodded, still respectfully keeping his eyes cast down at the floor. "Yes, Hokage-sama. They had just passed through the village's barrier and were sighted six minutes ago, and they weren't alone. An unknown kunoichi from Taki and a man garbed as an eastern monk were accompanying them."

Sarutobi grunted. "A kunoichi? A monk? …Naruto, just what are you up to?" He shook his head. "Thank you for your diligence. Please locate Hatake Kakashi and Izumi Honoka and ask them to meet me at the gate. After that, find Izumo and tell him if he ever takes a questionable leave of absence again, he'll be working double shifts. Tell him he is under orders to finish your shift out… Then, when all's done, take a break. You deserve it after spending all that time on the lookout."

Kotetsu smiled at the floor. "By your command, Hokage-sama." The Chuunin vanished without another word.

Sarutobi abandoned his work for the moment and steepled his fingers, resting his chin upon his upturned knuckles. "Naruto… You keep bringing in strays with you. Who could it be this time, I wonder?"

He stood up and sighed with the movement. As young as he kept his mind (helped, in part, with his former student's rather _interesting _novels) there was no denying one simple fact: he was getting old. With each passing month, the liver spots on his cheeks became more pronounced, his hairline rose ever-so-fractionally. Even things that he wouldn't have thought twice about in his youth—bending over to pick something off of the floor, for example—was often a chore.

Without using chakra to guide his everyday movements, it would be difficult for him to maintain the farce of normalcy. If any of those close to him had an inkling that he was cheating so, they never let on. It had been some time since he'd spoken to Asuma outside of a professional setting, but then again, they had rarely gotten completely along, not since… _that _day.

Fortifying himself with his natural energy, he grabbed his ceremonial robes and nearly-flat four-cornered hat and donned them in one exceedingly well-practiced motion. _It does the people well to see a figure-head such as I out and about every now and then, if only to remind them that I'm still alive and kicking. _He glanced out the open window that gave him an almost-uninterrupted view of his grand village. _So many little leaves… So many precious little leaves. How long will this old tree trunk be able to support them? _He let out a sigh. _At least another year or so… at least a year._

_Just another year. Maybe two, if the gods smile upon me._

Like any sane man, he left his office from its door. _Time to go meet my successor. I hope he has a really good story for me again. I like his stories. They keep things somewhat interesting._

* * *

"Remember," Naruto said, "Just keep quiet for now. Let me do the talking. I'm not trying to cramp your style, but if anyone asks you what you're doing here, just tell them that you're with me on an emergency diplomatic mission, ok? It might as well be true, anyway."

Fū sighed. "That doesn't sound much like fun," she grumbled.

"But it's practical," Araki said. "No need to cause trouble when it can be avoided. I like Naruto's plan. It makes sense. But it can only work if everything goes exactly right. Please, for our sakes, just stick to the script."

Fū frowned and sneered playfully up at him. "You're a real crotchety monk, aren't you? What crazy temple let you join in?"

Araki looked on up at the walls for a moment before answering her. "You have it wrong, girl. I was taken from the monastery where I was born by a shinobi when I was a child. It had been destroyed beyond recognition, beyond reason. The temple was neutral ground, holy ground, for each and every hidden village around. In an extremely rare example of international cooperation, the survivors of the massacre were given homes all over the continent, no questions asked. Three Kage showed up personally to help in the repairs.

"To this day, there is not a trace of a clue as to who destroyed my home. I live the wandering lifestyle in hope that one day, I can avenge my people. I also spread the word of the Buddha, as is fit for a monk. So you see, it's not that I belong to a temple; I belong to _every _temple."

"So you're… a super monk? Mega monk? Master monk?"

His face never shifted, but Naruto was almost positive he could hear the man's teeth grinding from five feet away. "Can it, Fū, all right? That's enough. We're getting close to the village—people could be watching."

"Fine." She fell behind Naruto and Hinata a couple more feet alongside Araki. "Spoilsport," she muttered under her breath.

"I heard that," Naruto shot back at her.

After several minutes of silence, they reached the village gates. Instead of challenging them for credentials, as was normal, the gatekeepers opened the massive bolted-together beams and gave them uncontested access. Naruto looked sideways at Hinata quizzically, but she was as clueless as he. Her Byakugan wasn't activated, so she was going on as much as he.

To their surprise, Sarutobi himself was there to greet them, his hands casually folded behind his back. Accompanying him was none other than their sensei, Kakashi, and Honoka.

Deciding to play it straight, Naruto and Hinata marched in formation to the old man, stopped four feet short, and saluted. "Sir," Naruto said stiffly. "Uzumaki Naruto returning from scheduled leave of absence."

"Hyuuga Hinata returning as well," the girl in question said. "Heavy two guests."

Sarutobi nodded. "Do you vouch for them?" he said formally.

"We vouch for them, sir!" Hinata and Naruto said simultaneously.

"I see. Welcome home, you two."

"Good to be home, sir," Naruto said.

The old man looked upon them for a moment, then sighed and shook his head. "You can stand at ease, you two. I've never asked you to be _this _formal with me before."

The two Sanseirei nodded and relaxed their stiff postures. "Thanks," Naruto said, visibly trembling as he adjusted his legs. "I am way too banged up to be on ceremony right now."

"Hn." He glanced at Araki and Fū, recognition for the former easily flickering across his face, puzzlement for the latter. "Indeed. I think you have some explaining to do if you have these two with you."

"Oh! Yes, them," Hinata said, turning back to their traveling companions. "I'm sure you're familiar with him…"

"We've met," Araki interrupted. "It's been a while, Sarutobi."

The brim of Sarutobi's had dipped slowly. "Yes. Yes, it has. Five years, if I remember it right."

"Arido Ruko's funeral service."

"He was a good man."

Not a person looking upon this scene spoke a word; few even dared move. There was a horrifying tension between the two powerful men, each in their own style of robes.

"He was among the best," Araki said slowly. "I fear, though, that there have been more old friend buried in my time away than I care to think of right now."

"Too many," agreed Sarutobi.

Araki held his ground… then slumped his shoulders. "We have much to talk about, old man. You've certainly been busy."

Sarutobi smiled an old, sad smile. "I know, old friend," he said, putting the tips of his left hand to the brim of his cap. "And perhaps I have some to… answer for."

The audience about them had grown in the few moments they had stood in front of the main gates. Besides the crew that had just arrived, Kakashi, Honoka, and Sarutobi, several other shinobi and civilians had dropped by to see the oddity before them. They were all used to the Hokage out and about, but to see him speaking on equal terms who was so much _younger _than him…

Araki seemed to realize that they had attracted a small audience. "Let's move on. I doubt that we can get much privacy here…" He opened his eyes marginally wider and looked around at the gathered gawkers. "What? You've never seen a monk before?"

Fū put her hand on his shoulder. "Araki-san… let me take care of this, ok?"

He and everyone gathered eyed her. "Um… Fū? Whatever you're planning—"

Naruto never was able to finish his sentence. In an instant, her entire head morphed into a nightmarish image of a horned beetle with a horrifyingly wide maw lined with drooling needle-like teeth. _**"BUZZ OFF!"**_ she roared, her mutated vocal cords reverberating hauntingly among the buildings and off of the gates.

The civilians ran off in fear for their lives, and the shinobi (save for those who were supposed to be there, anyway) fell back with weapons drawn, a few of them shivering in at least deep apprehension.

Sarutobi merely cocked an eyebrow. "And just who might you be, young lady?" he asked nonchalantly.

Naruto's right eye twitched. Did _anything _ever unsettle this man?

Fū's face reverted to her normal form and she approached the Hokage. She bowed at the waist respectfully. "My name is Kazeto Fū, Hokage-sama, of Takigakure."

"I see… Kazeto? Would Rudochi be your grandfather, then?"

"Yes, sir." She straightened and took a deep breath. "Um… sorry about that just a minute ago… I figured that you wanted some privacy…" She scratched her head. "Yeah… I can explain that."

The Hokage held up a palm. "You are the jinchūriki of the Nanabi, yes? Oh, come on, it's not that big a secret. I do read the reports that come across my desk every now and then. The Ozai incident two years ago, I assure you, we know about."

Fū groaned and put her face in her hands. "Gods," she mumbled. "The Ozai incident. When will people just let that one _go?_"

"What is this 'Ozai incident'?" Hinata asked.

Fū turned swiftly on the younger girl. "_We do not talk about the Ozai incident!_" she hissed.

"O-okay… if you say so…"

Sarutobi chuckled. "Sorry, dear," he said. "Everybody has missions like that once in a while. Who could have predicted that—"

"_We do not talk about the Ozai incident!_" Fū repeated. She remembered who she was talking to—the freaking _Hokage—_just then. "Sorry! Sorry! Gramps is always saying my mouth is going to kill me one day… Just ignore me, ok? Please don't tell my grandpa I was rude!"

Sarutobi laughed goodnaturedly. "Don't worry, don't worry, I won't. Just tell him to visit whenever he gets a chance. Us old men never get to talk about the old days nearly enough." He then frowned. "Which brings us to another question…" His gaze flickered between her and Araki. "Just _what _are you doing here, young Fū? What brings you to Konoha with such… _interesting _company?"

Fū looked over to Naruto and Hinata. "Perhaps that's a story that should be told indoors," she said.

Naruto nodded. "True," he agreed. "Hokage-sama, I have a favor to ask of you, and it needs to be done right away."

Sarutobi looked down at the boy. "What is it?" he asked.

Naruto took a deep breath. He was risking a lot with this request. "I need you to convene the village council. Right now. Schedule a meeting for two hours from now. Something happened when we were out, and I feel that it's important enough to bring all of the power players into the fold."

Sarutobi pursed his lips. "Hn. Would this have anything to do with the reports that have come our way of roughly three hundred acres worth of landscape and forest being torn asunder around the Konina inlet?"

Naruto closed his eyes. "Yes. That, and more."

Sarutobi looked between him and Fū. He moved in closer to him and bent down slightly. "Naruto… you and her didn't… you didn't fight, did you? You two didn't do all of that yourself? Please tell me we won't have diplomatic problems with Taki again. They are too valuable an ally to risk conflict with."

Naruto shook his head. "No. We didn't fight each other. But I need you to trust me on this one, ok? This is big. Bigger than you and me and her put together. I think that I'm in trouble, and I need your help. Please, just call for a council meeting, and I promise that everything will be explained in due course. Just _trust _me."

Sarutobi looked at him intensely for a long moment. "Naruto… look me in the eye and tell me that whatever it is, we can handle quietly."

The boy averted his gaze. "I don't know if I can say that honestly, old man. I'm sorry but… but…" He clenched his fists. "I don't know exactly what's happening. But I'm terrified, ok? I'm admitting that I need your help, that this isn't something that I can handle by myself. It's out of the scope of my experience. I _need _you, Hokage-sama. Don't make me beg for this."

The village leader straightened. "Never beg," he said. "Ever. Not even to me." He turned away slowly. "Two hours. Be at the council room in the tower. You know how to get there, I trust."

Naruto nodded. "How could I forget? The last time I was there was particularly memorable."

"If I recall correctly, you brought young Haku-kun back with you that time. Now, you bring me another Jinchūriki and the former bearer of Shukusatsu. Are you intending to make a habit of this?"

The boy scowled. "I really hope not. But I'm not keeping these strays. They came of their own accord. Anyway… I need you to understand something." He crooked his finger and bent it inward, motioning for Sarutobi to lean back in. He did, and Naruto mumbled in his ear. "I am going to be doing and saying _phenomenally _stupid things at the meeting. I need you to just roll with it, ok? I actually have a plan this time around; I'm not flying off the handle. Hinata's in on it, and so are Araki and Fū. Just… trust me."

"Just how 'phenomenally stupid' are we talking, Naruto?"

The boy's heart skipped a beat. "If this all works out, all through to the end, we could potentially be talking about a total and unbreakable alliance between the five great Kage villages."

Sarutobi's eyes shot open. _Incredible… either he is a genius, or a complete and total fool! _"And if it doesn't work? If your plan fails?"

"If it fails, Hokage-sama? One of two things: We're back where we started, or we delve into the beginnings of what could be the next world war."

The Hokage slowly stood erect. Naruto held his breath. For a split second, the world stood still. "You play an extremely dangerous game, Naruto." He turned away to face the Hokage tower. "Two hours. Be there. And Naruto? Do not disappoint me." He walked off, the stunned expression on Naruto's face the only thing he left behind.

_I am… I am absolutely terrified right now. I am in so far over my head_.

Araki walked on behind Sarutobi. "I'll see you lot later on," he said. "I need to talk to the old man while I can. It's been good to see you again, Kakashi. I've been hearing good things about you. Keep up the good work. I'm sure that your father would be proud of you." He smiled a little. "I'm sure you get tired of hearing this all the time, but you… you resemble him greatly."

Kakashi shrugged. "I don't get it too much these days, but thanks. I'll see you later on, I suppose."

Araki dipped his head. "Until then…" He flickered, then reappeared in step beside Sarutobi.

Naruto turned to speak to Fū… but she was gazing on Kakashi like a lovesick puppy. _Oh, crap. I forgot… _"Fū? Fū, close your mouth. You might swallow a fly…" Too late, he realized the pun, but she didn't notice.

"Fū?" Hinata said, then tapped her on her shoulder.

Kakashi had pulled out one of his perverted books, but had his one exposed eye on the green-haired girl. "Is she ok?" he asked Hinata and Naruto blankly.

Naruto palmed his face. "She's just fine," he said, dragging his hand down to his chin and groaning. "Just…" He sighed. "Hinata? A little help, maybe?"

She smiled and shook her head. "Kakashi-sensei… Fū wants to ask you something. Fū?" Hinata prodded her in the back with stiff fingers. "Fū!"

She snapped out of her daze. "Oh! Um, Kakashi-san…" she rummaged in her pouch and pulled out her book and a pen and thrust it before her and bowed her head, all in the same motion. "_!" _

Kakashi's expression turned from stoic to quietly amused. "You want my… autograph? That would be a first." He turned a lazy eye to Naruto. "Am I hearing her right?"

Naruto grinned. "Yeah, I know. But she really needs your signature to finish a 'bingo'. She's not a bingo hunter; she's just obsessed with autographs."

"Hm." He stowed his own book inside the lining of his flak jacket and grabbed hers. He flipped it open and scanned through it. "A lot of these guys are still alive… Huh. Guess you really are just looking for autographs." He stopped when he got to the page his photograph was on. "Ah. Here we are." He scrawled a note next to his photograph, then handed book and pen back to her. "There we go. See you later, kids." He flipped a hand in goodbye, then disappeared in a whirl of leaves.

"Happy?" Naruto asked his newest guest.

She nodded blankly as she read what Kakashi had written. "What? What did he put down there?" Hinata asked. She stood on her toes and peered over Fū's shoulder. "'To my apparent number one fan…Bingo.'" His signature followed.

Fū grinned ear to ear. "_All right!" _she crowed, pumping a fist into the air and jumping up a couple feet. "Yosh! Ohmygod I can't believe I just met Hatake Kakashi!"

Bemused, Naruto shook his head. "It's really not that big of a deal," he said. "It's just Kakashi…"

Fū eyed him menacingly. "'Just Kakashi' he says!" Fū said, indignant. "Surely, you gotta know the stories about him! He's almost a living legend!"

Naruto sighed. "I know a few," he said. "But can this wait? We have to get home and take a shower and get changed for the council meeting, you know. Two hours is kinda stretching it as it is."

Fū put her hands in the air. "Fine, fine," she said. "I'm done doing the fangirl dance. Do you have an extra shower anywhere at your place? I could use a good wash too."

Naruto smiled to himself. "Yeah, I think we can accommodate you for now. Do you have anything else to wear? That's good enough for combat, I suppose, but kinda immodest for a meeting like this. The village's heavy hitters will all be there."

She shook her head. "All of my gear and my weapons—except for a couple kunai, anyway—were lost when those cloaked assholes caught me. I'm used to wearing the same clothes a few days in a row, but I can smell myself. When you're _that _stinky, there's problems."

Hinata laughed genially. "I might have something that'll fit you… no promises, though. If that doesn't work, we can always raid Haku's closet. He has some nice kimonos…"

"Haku? Who's that?" Fū asked.

Naruto ran a hand through his dirty hair. "Our last mission took us to Wave country," he said. "We fought Momochi Zabuza, who was in the employ of a punk called Gato. Long story short, we came, we saw, we saved a country. Haku was Zabuza's apprentice, but when the man died, I pretty much dragged him here before he could do something stupid like kill himself."

Not for the first time, Fū's jaw dropped. "You… You fought _Momochi-Fucking-Zabuza_?"

Naruto nodded. "Yep. We get around, us of Squad Seven."

Fū shook her head ruefully. "Are you always in the middle of these big things?" she asked the pair.

Hinata sighed. "By accident, I swear. You wouldn't believe how often I wish things would quiet down. Anyway… let's get to our place, and we'll see what we can do about getting you some clothes for now…"

Fū stared at their backs for a moment as they walked off down the street. "I _love this village!_" she shouted aloud.

* * *

Naruto looked upon the black symbol that Konoha had adopted as its own on the red-stained doors before him. Two Jounin—possibly the same ones who had guarded the entrance the last time he'd entered this room, even—stood beside them, watching intently as the small group of him, Hinata, and Fū walked down the narrow corridor that lead to the meeting room.

"I really wish Sasuke were here," Naruto mumbled to himself as he walked down the hall. "Him and his damn escort mission. I need all the help I can get."

"You'll be fine," Hinata said soothingly. "Just don't panic, and you'll be fine."

He smiled crookedly. "Panic? What makes you think I might panic?"

Fū placed a palm on the younger jinchūriki's elbow. "Your hands are shaking like branches, Naruto-kun," she pointed out.

The blond thrust his hands into his pockets. "No, they're not," he insisted.

"Relax," Hinata insisted. "Just don't do or say anything rash, all right? We need them on our side."

Naruto inhaled and sighed. "I know, I know," he said. "This is just a little bigger than I'd ever expected things to get." They reached the doors to the conference room. "But this is it." He nodded at the Jounin on guard respectfully.

"Uzumaki Naruto reporting," he said to the guards. The one on their left nodded, and they opened the double doors by pulling on the iron rings at the middle seam. The doors opened, and they entered. There were considerably more people at this council meeting than had been the last time he'd been in this room. It seemed that every major clan head was in attendance, along with the rest of the senior council, along with some of the heads of the local merchant guild instrumental in the day-to-day operations of the military industrial complex.

Sitting at the head of the table was the Hokage, his advisors Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane beside him on either side. There were several other familiar faces among the bunch, some of which were parents of his former classmates. Of course, Hyuuga Hiashi was there as well, a couple seats down and opposite from Danzo.

"Uzumaki Naruto," Sarutobi said after the heavy doors thunked shut. "You have called this meeting together in the express purpose of speaking to the Konoha Council as an entity. You have stated that you require our assistance in a matter that you, as of yet, have not disclosed. Please, enlighten us." He waved a hand vaguely in front of him, giving Naruto the floor, so to speak.

Naruto took a quick glance around the room, gauging the general attitude of the assembly. _They're all wondering what the hell is going on, _he deduced. _I have their full attention. Better make it count. _"Ladies and gentlemen of the council," he began. "First of all, I thank you all for coming here on such short notice. I know that you are all busy people, and this isn't a normal day for a gathering of the minds, but I promise you I wouldn't have asked you to come if it wasn't so critical.

"I'm not going to waste your time. I'm in trouble, and I need some help and advice. You lot are the leaders of the village, so I figured that you would be the best place to go to."

Many of the faces around the table became quite curious. "Uzumaki-san," a woman in a drab blue kimono in the middle of the table said. "What is the issue? What could it be that you would convene the council?"

Naruto nodded in her direction. "Before I tell you that, there is vital information you must know beforehand. Please, bear with me on this."

The councilwoman eyed him for a moment, then dipped her head. "Go on, then."

He took a deep breath. "Thirty-two days ago, Hyuuga Hinata, one of my cell partners, and I went on a training trip to the south coast. I went in the hopes of learning how to use the Kyuubi's chakra more effectively. Hinata went with me to do some of her own training, as well as to keep me company." He saw a few smirks, but he ignored them. _Focus. _"Unfortunately for me," he continued, "it wasn't as simple as I had thought it would be. After two weeks of me doing pretty much nothing but trying to tap into its power, with no success whatsoever, Hinata put me under her own training regime. For the next two weeks, she worked me to the ground in my taijutsu, a field that I've been somewhat lacking in.

"On the twenty-eighth day, after several hours of sparring, we had come to a decision that we had done pretty much all that we could by ourselves and would come back to Konoha. At that moment, coincidentally, a monk walked by and struck up conversation. That monk's name was Ainu Araki. I see that some of you recognize that name." At the mention of the monk, several of the council stirred to attention. "Yes, Ainu Araki. The former teammate of my father, Namikaze Minato. Hell of a coincidence, I know. But a coincidence it was.

"We invited him to rest and eat, for he was on a pilgrimage. But when he learned my name, he became antisocial. After a… minor confrontation… in which I was separated from him and Hinata, he sensed some evil in the area. He had asked her to scan the surrounding land for suspicious characters." He placed his palms lightly on the table and leaned forward. "She found them. The ones known as Deidara and Akasuna no Sasori were traveling toward River country. Between them, they had captured the jinchūriki from Taki. Her name is Kazeto Fū." He waved a hand behind him. "This is Kazeto Fū. This part of the tale is hers to tell. Fū, if you will?"

She nodded and stepped forward. In the black and grey kimono that she and Hinata had raided from Haku's closet, she looked dignified and prominent. "My name is Kazeto Fū**,** of the Kazeto clan. I have been the jinchūriki of the Nanabi since the day I was born. I've pretty much got control over my bijuu, though occasionally I still have problems with chakra fluctuation. Nonetheless, I'm strong. Very, very strong. There is no reason to sugar-coat it—I'm one of the strongest in my village. Most definitely _the _strongest kunoichi we have.

"I was returning from a retrieval mission in Tea country when I was ambushed by Deidara and Sasori."

Nara Shikaku held up a hand. "Hold on a moment," he said with flint in his eye. "You were ambushed by one called Deidara? Are you sure that that was his name?"

Fū nodded. "I'm positive. He was referred to as such by his partner, Sasori. Yes, _the _Sasori."

Shikaku leaned to the side to consult with Inoichi for a moment. They seemed to have a minor argument before the Nara straightened. "I apologize for interrupting you. I was under the impression that Deidara was still a loyal Iwa soldier. But apparently, he's recently left and become a missing-nin. Continue, please."

She nodded again. "As I said, I was ambushed. Sasori attacked me with puppets from the ground. When I attempted to escape through the air, I was barraged by explosives. For the better part of an hour, I managed to elude them, though they were always just a step behind me. In the end, though, they got me." She closed her eyes and clenched her fists. "I was so scared. You have no idea what it's like to be so afraid. I swear, I thought that they were going to kill me as soon as they subdued me. But no; they restrained me and sedated me for travel.

"Naruto and Hinata… they saved me." She looked around the room slowly, momentarily catching the eyes of each councilmember, including the Hokage. "These two risked their lives to save someone they had never met before, simply because it was the right thing to do. Until the day I die, I'll owe them." She glanced over her shoulder. "I've never met anyone as strong or brave as these two. No question about it." With a polite bow, she took a step backwards, once again giving Naruto and Hinata the floor.

"Interesting turn of events," a merchant man said, rubbing a finger pensively through his fine beard. "You say these two genin rescued you from grown men with established reputations… I'd like to know how this came about. Just how were children such as yourself able to take her?"

Naruto's spine stiffened. He knew that the man had no real idea how strong he was, or any of the advantages he had over regular shinobi of _any _age. Still, it rankled him to be underestimated by anyone. "Hinata and I formulated a strategy to isolate and separate Sasori and Deidara," he explained. "We had absolutely no idea who they were at the time." He went on to briefly narrate the following events from his side of the story, from the beginning of his chase of the flying man on up to when he used the power of the Kazejin to leap impossibly onto the back of the transporting bird.

"Wait a moment," an elderly retired kunoichi said as she held up a folded fan. "Are you saying you wield the _Kazejin_? One of the five elemental blades?"

Naruto nodded. "Yes," he said. "As some of you may know, my father collected rare and powerful weapons. I inherited this stock when I inherited his home." He slowly pulled the cylindrical hilt from inside his jacket and mentally activated it.

"Has it… imprinted on you?" she asked warily.

Naruto nodded. He knew what she was speaking of full well. "Yes," he replied. "My natural wind affinity synchronizes perfectly with it, as long as I'm not using demonic chakra. I can manipulate it without touching it, should I choose to." He let the blade sink back into its hilt, though, instead of demonstrating the technique. "It will not betray me."

The older woman nodded. "I see…"

Naruto dipped his head in her direction. Why did it seem to him that she knew more than she was letting on? That she knew of the imprinting alone seemed a bit suspicious. _Just how well-known is this sword? _"Anyway…" he said, getting back on track. He detailed his fight with Deidara on top of the bird, then the fall when the bird broke.

When he got to the point where he began using the Kyuubi's chakra, some of the council looked intrigued, and some seemed a bit uncomfortable. Of course, he glossed over the part where he had goin into his head to speak to the kitsune and Sando… no need to be spilling _those _beans.

The next couple minutes found him explaining how he had freed Fū from the bird, then gone on the run while still in fox mode. One of the clan heads that he had never met nodded a couple times when he spoke of the miniature dragons spouting from the gargantuan original, and more than a few visibly winced when he told how he took two detonations point-blank.

"What level transformation were you at?" Sarutobi asked.

"I had gone up to five tails worth of chakra," Naruto replied. "I think I could have surpassed that, though… as frightening as that seems. I swear, even with the Kyuubi's cooperation, I was having some trouble keeping it stable. I managed, though… all the good _that _did me." He sighed. "As a lot of you know, raw power is almost useless when fighting someone who's smarter than you. I'm no dummy, not by a long shot. But I'm inexperienced. This Deidara guy had set up a trap on his dragon for me. It trapped me when I once again was able to mount his jutsu, and he implanted an extremely potent explosive buried deep inside." He ground his teeth. "I almost died. If I hadn't turned off the demon's control, I _would _have."

"You disengaged demonic possession… in the middle of a fight?"

Naruto turned his head to the stoic Danzo, who had been the questioner. "Yes. I did. It wasn't doing me any good anyway. I figured correctly that it was the demon's chakra that was fueling the dragon without Deidara himself there.

"I escaped and managed to get to the ground, just a short distance from where I had left Fū. I grabbed her and got the hell out of there. Maybe ten, fifteen seconds later, the bomb detonated. I'm not quite sure what the scope of the damage was, but I'm pretty sure nothing like it's been seen before."

"Wait a moment!" A portly administrator-looking man with ruddy cheeks and sparse black hair pointed a sausage-finger at Naruto. "So that was _you! _Do you have any idea how much trouble you've caused me? Maybe you hadn't noticed, boy, but your fight took place in the middle of one of the biggest cattle farms in the country! Thirteen percent of the Fire nation's beef is produced in that province!" He flipped through a file in front of him and jabbed at a note. "You destroyed nearly eight million ryo worth of livestock!"

Naruto groaned. "Seriously? That much?"

The fat man nodded vigorously. "Yes! That much! Not to mention, the destroyed land, the cost of repairing it to maintainable levels, removing unaffected animals to safe pastures away from the battlefield…"

"Doesn't Konoha have some sort of fund for collateral damage?" Naruto asked.

"Well, yes, but this is still outrageous! You need to answer for this!"

Naruto cocked an eyebrow and glanced at Sarutobi. "Who is this guy?" he asked the old man.

The Hokage allowed a small smile. "Roku Hayashi. Konoha's chief financial officer. He has a harder job than I ever will." He looked at the man in question. "Give the boy a break, Hayashi. He was saving a life, and _technically _it wasn't he who destroyed the farmland. This falls to the national government. Let them deal with it." He motioned with a couple fingers back at Naruto. "Continue."

The blond rubbed the back of his head. "Actually… that's about all I have, as far as the fight goes. We got buried by quite a bit of earth from the aftershock, though I was able to throw up a Mizu no Tate. That held long enough for Fū to collect herself and get us out of there." He shook his head. "As far as I know, Deidara got away and reunited with his partners." He glanced at Hinata. "Before I go on, let Hinata say her piece. Then, I'll fully explain exactly why I brought us all here today. Just be patient, I ask of you."

Hinata stepped forward; if she was nervous at the idea of speaking aloud in front of the council, her stoic expression didn't betray her. "When Naruto went after Deidara, I stayed behind to stall Akasuna no Sasori," she said. "Though he was most likely stronger than Deidara, Hyuuga are adept at fighting puppeteers." Several head nodded around the table agreed with her, including Hiashi's. A flicker of something gleamed in his eye, akin to pride. "I'm not going to lie," she continued. "I was… I was absolutely terrified." She closed her eyes and swallowed. "Sasori was… no, the creature _called _Sasori was nothing short of a monster. Before we engaged, he said something about adding me to his collection. Of turning me into a _puppet._ From what I saw, the majority of his puppets used to be _human._ They used jutsu—not simply gimmicks or traps, but _ninjutsu. _That should be _impossible. _I did the only thing that I could do under the circumstances. I ran."

She proceeded to describe how she evaded the first swarm of puppets by running into the woods where Sasori's puppeteer jutsu would be extremely limited and her Byakugan could work to full effect. For a time, her vision counteracted the numerical advantage he held, but that was only because of his desire to capture her alive. Had he wanted, the entire forest could have been set to flame about her. "Survival was my only concern. I don't know exactly how long I ran, or how many puppets I was able to immobilize, but… eventually, my luck ran out. I hit open field with nowhere else to go, so it was time to get clever. I made my stand at the highest ground I could and waited for Sasori to come to me."

Most of the council seemed to be in slight awe of the young Hyuuga heiress. Sasori's reputation was near-legendary as the greatest puppet master of all time. That this _girl _could match him for as long as she did was simply _extraordinary. _Several men and women glanced over at Hiashi: several times in the past, they had heard from his lips how utterly useless she was. Either he was hiding the truth from them, or he was a complete fool!

"I… was unprepared for what came next. Perhaps I had overestimate my skills, but…" She shrugged. "I was desperate. Over eighty puppets blitzed me at once, on ground and by air. I had only one option: use the one absolute defense I could, the Hakkeshou Kaiten."

His jaw didn't exactly drop, but the slight parting of the lip of the elder Hyuuga was more than enough to show his shock. "You… you know the _Hakkeshou Kaiten_? But I—I never taught you that technique! How could you know it?"

Hinata looked her father, lavender eye to lavender eye. "I've seen you do it enough, father," she said. "It isn't that difficult a technique to pick up from simple observation. If you had paid more attention to me, maybe… oh, I don't know… treated me as a _daughter _and not a _pawn _in clan politics, maybe you would have known about it!"

The venom in her words noticeably stung the man. Naruto almost had pity for him. Almost.

"This is not the time or the place," Sarutobi noted, "for interfamily issues." He glanced at Hiashi. "Hyuuga-san. I ask you to restrain yourself from further outbursts. They will not be tolerated."

Hiashi nodded, a little nervously. "Hai, Hokage-sama," he said. He interlaced his fingers and rested his chin on the bridge they formed and said not another word, though his darting gaze belied his intense contemplation.

"Anyway… the Hakkeshou Kaiten. Every airborne puppet crashed into it, and a good amount of the rushing dolls collided before Sasori could retreat them. About forty were destroyed in that moment, I think."

Sarutobi's eyes narrowed. From what he could tell, she was describing technique and ingenuity that was _well _above Genin level. Probably above what any Chuunin could brag about, as well. He knew that she would improve by leaps and bounds the day that he had appointed her as the Aoiryu Sanseirei, but still. He had never in his wildest dreams thought that she would achieve this level in such a short amount of time!

"I only had one more chance to fight. I used a technique that I essentially made up on the spot on the rest of his dolls to cut their chakra strings in one fell swoop."

If the council had been shocked before, they were positively _flabbergasted _now. "You… you beat Akasuna no Sasori…" the leader of the Akimichi clan muttered. "You, a _Genin, _defeated a wanted S-class criminal!"

Hinata looked to the side and down, a slight blush approaching her cheeks. "No," she said softly. "No, I didn't defeat him." She sighed. "He possessed nearly three hundred puppets. I took out one hundred of them, and Naruto defeated ten before that. Best-case scenario, he had about a hundred and fifty left to use." She rubbed her right temple and sighed. "I was out of chakra by then, dangerously close to chakra exhaustion, and he hadn't yet gotten _serious. _He summoned one more puppet and I… I had to use my own trump card."

Hiashi leaned forward, suddenly keenly interested. "What trump card?" he asked.

Hinata frowned, but drew her black blade from her scabbard and tapped a seal. The Supakamaru appeared in her hand, eliciting gasps from many of the shinobi present. "Where did you get that blade?" an old retiree sharply asked.

Hinata stared at the man. "My sensei gave it to me," she stated plainly. "Yes, I know what it is. Yes, I know what it does. And _yes, _I know its significance. And trust me, it's _mine. _I know _damn _well how to use it effectively. I was almost falling down, and it helped me fight on a level higher than what I could do by myself. So please, before you even _think _of trying to confiscate it, remember: it's in _my _hands, and historically, it really dislikes when people try to take it by force."

The man gulped visibly. He had once been young and powerful, had once made a name of himself during the second war. But he had not been active for over twenty years, and _that _sword would… could…

"No, no, nothing of the sort," he said with a false calm. "I was just a bit surprised to see it again."

"This puppet that Sasori brought out," Sarutobi said, interrupting before this particular line of questioning could continue, "what was it? It would have to be significant if he would bring it out by itself."

She nodded. "Yes. It was…" She searched for the appropriate word. "Unique. Yes, unique." She rubbed her jaw. "It manipulated miniature pellets of black iron into shapes to attack and defend with. There wasn't any limitation to shape, speed, or distance that I could see. I'd never even heard of a technique like it. If it wasn't for my sword, I would have been killed in a second. Luckily for me, I was saved by Araki-san before the killing blow could take me down."

There was not a sound in the room. For a few short moments, every mind around the table was thinking the very same thing: _Just what the hell is going on? _

"Araki saved you?" Shikaku asked solemnly. "The monk? You had mentioned him, but where was he during all of this?"

Naruto stepped forward. "Ah—well, you see, the thing is, I kinda… I kinda… let my mouth get the better of me. I tried pushing him into answering some questions for me, and I wasn't exactly _polite _about it. Cut me some slack!" He grinned sheepishly. "How was I to know that this was a guy who could throw me with his brain?"

Four or five older council-members chuckled. The man had been known to have that kind of persona on occasion. More than a few enemy shinobi learned the hard way what being flung violently through the air felt like. "Anyway, I overstepped my bounds—"

"Which is a _polite _way to put it," interjected Hinata.

"—and made him mad enough to leave. I still don't know exactly why he came back, but he did. And Hinata and, more than likely, Fū and I, are alive for it. Um, Hokage-sama? Just where is Araki-san?"

The old warrior's lips thinned. "He has taken leave and is visiting the memorial."

Naruto nodded in quiet understanding. "I see." He folded his hands behind his back. "Well, you can get an account from him later then, I suppose. This concludes the mission briefing. Now, the real reason I asked you here."

"Finally," grumbled the old man who had questioned Hinata's sword.

The girl shot him a dirty look, and he almost immediately quailed. "As I was saying," Naruto said slowly, "all of this leads up to something critically important. Hokage-sama. Requesting permission to speak freely."

Sarutobi nodded. "Granted," he said.

"All right then." He took a deep breath. It was about to hit the proverbial fan. "Ladies and gentlemen, I just may be royally fucked. Simple as that."

Faces stared blankly at him. Almost three dozen faces fell into puzzlement. "Naruto," Sarutobi said slowly. "Please, explain yourself."

"Ah—yes, Hokage-sama." He bit the corner of his lip. "You see, the thing is… well…"

"What Uzumaki is trying to say," Fū said, "is that this isn't the end of it. According to Araki-san, I was not the first jinchūriki to be abducted. The Gobi from Iwagakure, Ruudao Han, was taken by members of this same group as Sasori and Deidara. It seems that they are collecting the bijuu together for… _something. _Had these two not saved me, I would have been number two."

"And I would have been next."

Many eyes widened at the implications this could bring. "How do you know?" Homura asked.

Naruto directed his gaze to the Hokage's former cell mate. "I know because Deidara told me. He told me that I was on a short list of three, after Han and Fū. I don't know why we are being taken, but I don't have to tell you how catastrophic it would be should we _all _be taken. If our bijuu were extracted and put to malicious ends, it could very well signify the end of the world as we know it."

For one horrible second, there was deafening silence. An instant later, there was deafening _noise _as each and every single councilmember (save for the four elders) leapt to their feet and talked, shouted, and gestured their wishes and demands. From within the turmoil, a stray word or two could be deciphered, but that many voices at once in such a confined space brought nothing but disorder and confusion.

"ENOUGH!" Sarutobi shouted, slamming his palms surprising hard on the surface of the wooden table. Though it didn't crack, it creaked ominously, reverberating off of the walls. Instantly, the men and women fell silent and slowly sat back down. "Damn it, people! One at a time!" He, too, sat back in his seat. "Naruto! Tell us everything you know about this! Now!"

The boy gulped. The wrath of the Sandaime Hokage directed at any one person was nothing short of terrifying. "H-Hai, Sarutobi-sama. Deidara, before we fought, mentioned that he was a part of a group that was formed to hunt down us jinchūriki. He also told me that I was to be abducted in about two months." He clenched his fists so tight his nails dug into his palms. "He also mentioned the name of the man who was assigned to take me down."

Naruto's voice caught in his throat. He couldn't speak. He couldn't bring himself to say the words. He tried to find the will to overcome his fear, but—but—

"Who is it?" the woman who'd mentioned his mother and the other hosts of the Kyuubi at the meeting following the Wave mission a hundred years before. "Who did he say was coming after you?" Her words were soothing and understanding, as if she knew the torment that was raging inside the young man.

Naruto knew he had to say the two simple words that could end in his eventual doom. He opened his mouth and spoke. "Uchiha… Itachi."

Simple as that.

Danzo became suddenly animated. He jumped to his feet and banged the butt-end of his staff on the floor. "Uzumaki Naruto, you have new orders. You are _not _to leave the village for any reason whatsoever. You are to be confined to ANBU headquarters under twenty-four hour watch. You will not go anywhere without at least a four-man escort, including your home. Furthermore, your are to refrain from training with the Kyuubi's chakra. If you cannot control it reliably, even with its acquiescence, you can be considered no more than a liability." Danzo's lone exposed eye flickered toward Sarutobi and his personal council. "This is the wisest choice, and you three know it," he said to them.

The Hokage slowly shook his head. "No, Danzo," he muttered. "No. There has to be another way."

"And what would you have us do?" Homura said to his old teammate. "Let Uzumaki go free?"

"Go free?" Hinata said indignantly. "You speak as if he's a criminal!"

"He is a liability!" Koharu Utatane, Sarutobi's other former teammate, snapped. "We have more to worry about than the personal feelings of one boy!" She looked side-long at Sarutobi. "I agree with Danzo. The boy should be watched and guarded at all times."

Naruto slammed a fist on the table. "For how long?" he shouted vehemently. "How long do you think I should be your prisoner? Do you think that caging me would do any good? What about my rights?"

"You have what rights we choose to give you, boy!" Utatane said, her eyes narrowed. "We as a council must worry about the village as a whole! You are a shinobi: in the end, you are a tool. It is our responsibility to use you as we see fit."

The boy glared daggers at the old woman. "I will say this once. _Only _once. So _pay attention. _I. Am. Not. Your. Tool." He glanced over at Danzo. "Not yours, either. I am a living, breathing, _thinking _human being. I dare you… I fucking _dare _you to try to keep me confined. I have loyalties to the village, then the Hokage, then my teammates and friends. You wrinkled old prunes sitting in your ivory towers have absolutely _no _grasp of reality anymore." He leaned forward and dropped the volume of his voice, his tone getting slightly grittier. "You seem to think that I give a shit what you think. Except for a few of you, you all can go to fucking hell in a handbasket."

"You watch your tone, boy!" Utatane hissed.

Naruto laughed at her face. "Or what? Or what, old woman? You'll orphan me again? Oh, wait… you can't do that, can you?" He shook his head. "You know, it's funny. You care about what happens to me when you're cornered. But did any of you give a shit about me before graduation? Before word got out that my dad was Minato?" He looked around the table. "Didn't it _bother _you that the host of the _Kyuubi _was an orphan, essentially living on the streets?" His fist tightened. "Did any of you even _think _that being alone all that time might make me somewhat _angry? _I was _attacked! _I was _beaten when I was four! _I was _shunned, hated, spat on! _I was a scared, frightened little boy who just wanted someone to look at him with something resembling kindness in their eyes! But _no! _You let everyone hate me, despise me, _abuse _me. You taught your children to hate.

"If it wasn't for the Hokage, I wouldn't have had a single damn thing to my name!" He pointed at the man in question. "He's the only person in the whole damn village who gave a shit! Where were you?" His eyes blazed at the council as a whole. "You _all _knew what was inside of me since the day I was born, but _none _of you thought to give me any consideration. And now, of all days, you think you know what's _best _for me?

"No. Fuck that. I'm the only one here who has to deal with this. If it weren't for the fact that my father was the former Yondaime, some of you still wouldn't give a crap. So, here's the deal: I'll be a soldier. I will use my skills and my sword for the people. _The people. _Not you. Not your agenda, not your schemes. If any of you have a problem with that, you know where I live."

Danzo grunted. "So, I take that to mean that you are refusing a direct order, Uzumaki?"

Naruto stared at the bandaged man. "And what if I am?" he asked.

Danzo stood, leaning upon his cane. "Then I place you under arrest."

A chill crawled down Naruto's spine. "No," barked Sarutobi. "Danzo, stand down. Now."

"Will you stand for this subordination, Hiruzen?" Danzo asked. "This lowly… _Genin _seeks to defy the law! Your pacifistic views endanger us all!"

"And I will remind you just who is Hokage, Danzo!" Sarutobi shot back. "Do you _really _wish to challenge me?"

The air was practically thick with tension as the two battleaxes stared each other down. Eventually, after more than one uncomfortable moment passed, Danzo slowly lowered himself to his seat. "I know full well who is Hokage," he said. "I have no wish to challenge you. We need to be unified in the face of this potential disaster." He sighed, seemingly dejected. "We cannot have the boy exposed to this group, whoever they are. Precautions _must _be taken."

"And they will."

The entire council turned back to look at Naruto. "How do you mean, Uzumaki-san?" the sympathetic woman asked.

"I have a plan," he said. "But it has to go _my _way. I cannot afford for you to interfere."

She wagged a finger. "Uh-uh. Nobody gets carte blanche without authorization. If you have an idea, please… we're all ears."

Naruto glanced at her and smiled wryly. "If you insist." He steeled himself for what was to come. "Under International Shinobi Law, Section 9, Article 9, I invoke my rights as Konoha's jinchūriki. In parallel, I invoke the Fourth Black file, also pertaining to jinchūriki.

"Under these two laws in conjuncture, I am exempt from any and all orders from superior officers, up to and _including _the Hokage. I can only invoke this Black File if I believe that my personal rights as a citizen of Konoha have been infringed upon. Locking me up simply for being what I am qualifies, I think.

"Under the International Law, I call for a convene of all living jinchūriki for summit. Look it up. These are my rights. Deny me my rights, and I _will _make issue to the Daimyo himself. I happen to know that he was very friendly with my father and mother. He may not be able to overrule the council, not directly, but he _can _make things difficult for all of you." He grinned wickedly. "That's right. _I _can play politics, too."

He turned his back on the council. "Send the messengers to every other major village. Taki too, they deserve to be in on this. In two weeks, we convene the Council of Nine."

* * *

A/N:

_**DRAAAAMAAAA. **_

Anyway… Yep. Thus begins the "Council of Nine" arc. This storyline should take the next three or four chapters, I think. I have been planning this scenario since before I got into culinary school, back before the rest of the jinchūriki and bijuu were revealed. I've had to change it a good bit, but… yeah. It feels _good _to be here at last.

Before anyone says anything, I have absolutely no idea how the symbols that make up Naruto's name could be interpreted. I don't know if it could honestly be said "Whirlpool Fish Paste" or anything like that. The idea popped in my head, and I was incapable of not running with it!

The Bingo book thing… yeah. Just… um… go with it.

In other news, I find myself reading a few extremely interesting fanfiction recommended on . It's a really fun site, and you can learn a hell of a lot about a hell of a lot. Just type in "recommended fan fics" in the search bar there and you'll find _thousands _of worthwhile fics.

Most likely, this will be the last chapter I publish before Christmas. If that's the case, I wish a Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, Happy Solstice, and/or Happy Kwanza to you all. Stay safe.

(Oh, by the way… Anyone know what I can get my 14-year-old sister? It's impossible to shop for her!)

dead witch


	31. Prelude to Madness

A/N: Egads. Took me long enough to slam this out. I was in a coma throughout most of the holidays—mostly watching Potter Puppet Pals and looking up funny webcomics, to be honest. I enjoyed my time with my family, but it's been a full week back at school, and good God, I love Italian food!

I ended up getting my sister a wool-knit hat from a kiosk in the mall. It's rainbow-striped, has a crest of fluffy yarn from front to back, and looks absolutely _adorable _on her.

I'm quite tipsy at this exact moment; my best girl friend took me out tonight, and basically forced me to drink. I have _**AWESOME **_friends.

Go go gadget review reply!

**JayTang: It'll be similar to the Kage summit. In fact, every Kage's gonna be there, plus plenty of other heavy-hitters. Some familiar faces will show up. Stay tuned.**

**HitmanRenji: Drama makes the world go around. Does anybody have a problem with that? Ended up getting her a hat, though. She loved it :)**

**Irae2007: I don't know why they can't all be this good… I just don't. It does suck, eh?**

**Silver Warrior: Yeah, Gaara's gonna be a bit of a problem. Man, this is gonna be fun to write!**

**Shrumples: For god's sake, man, make an account! Lol. The name of the summit is "Council of Nine," because there are normally nine jinchuriki. The fact that one's out of action doesn't mean the name changes.**

**IfOnlyIf: I like Fū's personality. To be honest, I modeled it after a close friend of mine. Except for some of the more extreme ranges of her actions, it's pretty dead-on what she acts like. Like I said… I have totally awesome friends. And as for her being too happy for a jinchuriki… Well, Kirabi is a dancing, rapping dude who stops in the middle of fights to write down rhymes he suddenly thinks up, right? I think that one scene gave everyone full permission to do whatever they want to these guys!**

**Anthurak the Chaos Lord: I work hard to make the council believable dicks. It's not too hard.**

**Duner89: Hell yes, they're wondering. Some of them are probably chalking it up to them training with Kakashi and the ANBU, or something to that nature. If/When they come out as the Sanseirei, it should be interesting, I agree.**

**Sinewyk: Yeah, sorry. is a massive site. To go to the recommended Naruto page, go to this site: /FanficRecs/Naruto. You should be entertained for weeks.**

**Twilight the Moon Spirit: I'm an Itachi fan, too, believe it or not. You can rest assured, one way or another, he'll one day be redeemed.**

**Bardad101: I'll do what I can!**

**Jgirl1984: Yeah, I know. Poor Naruto. But come on, the funny was totally worth it!**

**Freeprincess: No worries, Sasuke's staying right where he is. I'm glad you like this story!**

**Anon42: Thanks for the good word, buddy.**

Aaaaaand that's about it. Thanks for all your kind words, people!

No more talk! Read! And! Review!

**Chapter 31**

Naruto stormed out of the Tower, Hinata and Fū just behind him. Civilian—Genin, Chuunin, even Jounin—made way for the blond dynamo and his female company. The dead-set expression on his face telegraphed his utter refusal to deal with people's bull at the moment.

"Naruto-chan?" Fū said casually. "Chill. You're scaring all of the administrative Chuunin. Just relax. Your killing intent is leaking all over the place.

He stopped some twenty feet from the doors and just stood there motionlessly. All around, people turned their eyes to glance at the boy. Rumors of his supposed strength now ran rampant around the village, no doubt seeded from Team Kurenai's accounts of the Wave mission. _Just wait till they hear about last week, _he thought. _If they think they know me now… Heh. I'm just full of surprises._

"Sorry," Naruto said gruffly. He mentally flipped the switch in his tenketsu and, just like that, he stopped radiating demonic chakra.

"Thank you," Hinata said dryly as she and the other two continued moving. She was as unaffected as Fū by his threatening vibes, due to her constant exposure to him over the past months. "You don't have to be so riled up, Naruto. Everything went pretty much as planned."

"I know!" Naruto said. "I know! It's just those—those—those self-righteous _assholes _on the council! Trying to lock me up because of what _could _happen!"

Hinata slipped her hand into his and squeezed. "That'll never happen," she told her boyfriend. "I won't let it. So relax, all right?"

Naruto sighed and rubbed his brow in frustration. "Yeah, yeah," he mumbled. "I'll try."

His growling stomach broke the silence. He stumbled in surprised at the intensity of his gastrointestinal activity. "Ah… How about some lunch?" he said casually. "Maybe some ramen?"

Hinata groaned. "You and your damn ramen!" she exclaimed.

Naruto held up a protesting hand. "Give me a break!" he almost cried. "I haven't had any in a month!"

The Hyuuga girl shook her head. "No. It's not good for you, Naruto! You're still maturing, physically _and _mentally, and you need to get a more varied diet in you. More vegetables, more complex carbs, and more fruit. Noodles are a _horrible _staple."

"But Hinataaa…"

"No."

"Hinata-chaaaaan…"

"No, Naruto!"

"Hinata."

"Naruto, I said _no!_"

Fū tapped her on the shoulder. "Um… Hinata? Naruto didn't say that last one." She jerked her thumb over her own shoulder, back toward the tower.

Hinata looked that way to see none other than her father. How in the world she had mistaken his voice for Naruto's, she had not a clue. _I'm too distracted as of late… Stupid, stupid! _

"Oh." was Hinata's simple reply. "Fū, you and Naruto go get something to eat. Don't let him take you to the Ichiraku, though. No noodles. He pays, of course." She slowly turned around and began walking toward her father. "I have some family issues to deal with."

Naruto walked beside her. "Hold on, Hinata!" he said. "You can't let him—"

Hinata stopped and halted him with the back of her hand across his chest. "Naruto, stop it. Even with all the trouble we've had before… the man is still my father." She sighed and ran some fingers through her hair in frustration. "You forget, maybe, but I still have a sister that I love dearly. I want to see her again one day. If that means swallowing my pride and talking to him, isn't that worth it? Isn't it, Naruto?"

He didn't answer immediately, but thought for a few seconds. "I suppose so," he said slowly. "I want you to have family, Hinata, I do. But don't let him jerk you around. Ok?"

She smiled in relief. She hadn't let it show, but she really did want his approval in this. The last time they had seen her father on the streets, he had given the older man a verbal beatdown threatening a literal one. To say that Naruto was "protective" would be _somewhat _of an understatement. "Promise," she answered. "I'll meet you back home, ok?"

He nodded. "All right." He turned to walk away and grabbed Fū by the wrist. "Come on. You like barbeque?" The green-haired jinchūriki licked her lips. "I _live _for barbeque, my friend!" She shot a hand in the air in enthusiastic anticipation. "Lead the way!"

Naruto shook his head at her antics. To think, _he _could have ended up like that once upon a life! "Fine, fine," he said. "It's not far… just down this way." He lead her down the central boulevard of Konoha, toward the restaurant district, the only thought in his mind the well-being of his loved one. _Good luck._

Hinata watched Naruto and Fū walk away for a moment, then turned back to look at her father and examined him.

He seemed… older than he had before. She hadn't noticed inside of the council room, but she hadn't paid much attention to him then. In fact, she had done her best to _ignore _him. But the simple fact was, there were more and deeper lines engraving his face (especially at the corners of his eyes) than ever before.

He retained his quiet aura of strength, however, no doubt about that. It and his natural charisma allowed him to effectively lead the Hyuuga clan with a minimal of fuss and internal strife, though the problems with the Cadet Branch had been stewing and simmering almost to the point of a boil for nearly a decade.

She walked over to him in a slow and measured pace, letting her face betray no emotion. Hiashi, still a mere few feet away from the steps of the tower doors, let her come to him.

His expression wasn't hard… simply set, as if he didn't know exactly what emotion to express, so he defaulted into indifferent neutrality. Granted, that was similar to his _normal _face…

"Daughter," he said when Hinata came within polite conversation distance. "Thank you for taking the time to see me without an escort."

Hinata snorted. "Yes, well, I think I've proved once or twice that I can rely on myself, wouldn't you think?"

Hiashi looked slightly to the side. "Yes. Yes, you have. I…" He sighed. "Would it make a difference if I told you how proud of you I was? For the way you… for how you've done?"

She eyed her father coldly. "What? Seriously?" She put a palm to her forehead in exasperation. "You just wanted to say that? Father, I've tried to be civil, but I've made it clear enough that I just want to be left _alone_—"

"But that's it!" he interrupted. "You… I… Why does it have to be so hard to talk to my own daughter?"

He had said this quite a bit louder than he had intended. To his chagrin, quite a few people had turned to see the source of the noise.

Hinata sighed. "You're making a scene," she chastised him. "Let's… let's walk."

Hiashi nodded and followed behind her. She lead him north and west, towards the financial district. "How about we start over?" Hinata suggested coolly.

"I would… appreciate that," said Hiashi, the smallest of smiles upon his lips. "Ahem… Where to begin…"

"You could ask how I am," the man's daughter prompted.

Hiashi blushed slightly. First chastised, then steered… just who among the two was the adult?

"Yes, of course. How are you?"

Hinata thought about that for a moment. "I'm happy," she said. "I'm really, really happy. I like my life. It has its ups and downs, but all in all, I'm happy."

Hiashi nodded. "I'm glad," he said softly. In truth, he really _was _happy for her. "And… Uzumaki. Does he make you happy?" He regretted the question as soon as he uttered the words, but the fact was he really _did _want to know.

Hinata smiled. "Yes," she said. "He does make me happy. He is the only reason I am—well, _me._ If I told you all of the amazing things about him, the greatness in his soul, we could walk all day and I would still not be able to finish."

"Do you love him?"

This question stopped Hinata dead. "Do I... love him?" She inhaled and exhaled. "Yes. I love him. More than anything. I love him more than anything else in the world." She looked up at her father somewhat apprehensively. "You may think that sounds juvenile, but it's not. He and I have done things you wouldn't believe. _Not _like that!" she added hastily. No need for her father to get the _right _idea!

"I have no idea what you could be referring to," he told her stoically.

Silently thankful for his implied discretion, she said "Of course not." As one, they turned to once again walk down the business street. "How is my sister?"

Hiashi sighed. "More and more like her sister every day," he said.

Now, _that _surprised Hinata! "What do you mean?" she asked.

Hiashi waved a hand vaguely in circles. "She's gotten more headstrong than I could have ever thought since you left. She rebels sometimes. She has begun speaking and spending more time with Neji."

Hinata's jaw dropped. Of all the things she could have expected him to say, _that _particular tidbit would have never even been a possibility! "N-Neji?" she said, damning her stammer. "Why? What could possibly make her want to be with Neji? Why would he _let _her be with him?"

Hiashi shook his head in wonder. "I don't know," he grumbled. "It begun about a month after Anko-chan and Tsume-san came to take you to ANBU for training." A flicker crossed his face, as if wanting to ask something, but he let it slide. "Whenever Neji came to the main building, for whatever reason, she would find a way to be around.

"When you left, she lost something. Hinata, you're her sister. There's nothing either of us can do to change that. I know that I wasn't the best father. Or brother…" His face clouded. "But nobody gives a book to you when you have a child. You knew your mother long enough to pick up her kindness, her gentleness. You were her sunny day, Hinata, her only. But when Hanabi was born, and she… passed…" He shook his head sadly. "When did I stop being a good man, daughter? When did I fail fatherhood?"

Hinata took her time to answer as they walked. "I think," she said slowly, "it may have been the day you let your brother's corpse be substituted for your own the day of the Kumo incident."

Hiashi closed his eyes and grimaced. "You seem to have a real talent for making me regret asking you questions, daughter."

"I—I'm sorry. But if the questions weren't so fatalistic, the answers may not be so morbid."

Hiashi looked down on his daughter with a new view. "Just when did you get so wise beyond your years?"

"When I grew up, father. Doing what I do in our world, I had to do it quickly."

"Hmm. I suppose so." He shook his head. "Just tell me that I did something, _something, _that made it easier for you out there." He clinched his fist. "Please tell me, daughter. Tell me I wasn't a failure as a father!"

She stopped dead. Just then, a light rain began to fall. It was only mid-afternoon, yet the clouds obscured the sun so thickly that the May sky was but a memory. Hinata pretended that those were merely raindrops falling down her father's face and not the tears that she was sure they were. "No, father," she said softly. "You were no failure. As harsh as you were, as much as you drove me, you, in your own way, did me a service. The world can be cold, and cruel. Not everyone is born equally into this world." She turned away from him, hiding her own silent tears. "Looking back, I was lucky to be born Hyuuga, born of Konohagakure. It could have been a lot… worse."

Sudden memories of her first mission sprang up—conversations with Kaoru, learning of her abuse at her father's hands, murdering him even as he thrust his hands at her body to try to restrain her… destroying him utterly…

"It could have been much worse." She took a few deep breaths as her father watched her back. "Maybe I've been too hard on you," she said quietly, barely loud enough for him to hear. "I'm not going to say that I forgive you. I may never tell you that. Ever. But…" She turned back around at her father. "Maybe you deserve a second chance? Another shot at being a father?"

Hiashi smiled a smile only a father could. "I'd like that. I might not deserve it, but… Thank you, Hinata. Not everyone gets a second chance like this. I swear that I won't let it go to waste."

"Don't. Just don't forget that you have another daughter besides me. Don't let her grow to resent you too."

Hiashi nodded at her admonishment. "Of course. Come with me. I'm sure she would like to see you again."

Hinata smiled. "I'd like that." She walked side-by-side with her father towards the buildings she had been raised in, but no longer called home. "I'd like that."

Fū used a chopstick to expertly flip a piece of meat into the air and caught it in her mouth. "Mmm… Man, you Konoha people sure know how to cook! Pork! Beef! Yum!" She slumped to the side and smiled contentedly. "I couldn't eat another _bite,_" she said, rubbing her belly.

Naruto laughed. "Me, neither," he told her, setting his plate to the side. "If I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes, I wouldn't believe it, but there _is _someone out there who can out-eat me. Who'd have thought?"

"I get that a lot," she said with a groan. She eyed his plate. "You gonna finish that?"

Hesitating for a moment, he slid his leftovers towards her slowly and carefully. "Are you sure you want it?" he asked her.

"Waste not, want not," she said. She sat up and slid the meat into her mouth. The sauce dribbled down the corner of her mouth, so she wiped it with a finger and sucked it down. "Yum." She smiled. "Thanks for lunch, Naruto-kun!" She slumped over to the side again. "I'm so _fullll… _wake me when it's time to go…"

Naruto couldn't believe it! She fell asleep in a barbeque!

Of the many, many things that Haku expected to see when he arrived home after a full shift of patrol, Naruto sitting on the couch with a girl's head on his lap was _not _at the top of the list.

That the girl was not Hyuuga Hinata made the situation seem even more bizarre.

He had already showered and changed at ANBU headquarters, so was clean and fresh and out of that abominable armor. A simple white shirt/black slacks outfit served him well enough. "Naruto!" he exclaimed in surprise when the scene registered. "Welcome home! What is… I mean, when—"

Naruto held a finger to his lips. "Shh. She's sleeping." He was tenderly stroking her hair as she slept, as if she was a cat or small dog sleeping on him.

Haku closed the door softly. "Naruto-kun… what's going on? Where is Hinata-chan? Did you two…"

"No. I know what you're thinking, but no. We didn't break up or anything like that. She's just out with her father right now. She should be back soon."

"I see. Who is this, then?" Haku asked, gesturing at Fū.

Naruto halted his fingers. "This is Kazeto Fū. She's from Takigakure, a smaller hidden village allied closely to Konoha. We rescued her and brought her here."

Haku sat on the chair across from the couch. "Rescue? Explain, if you will."

Naruto nodded and quickly gave him the basics of what had occurred during his and Hinata's training trip, from start to explosive finish. "I see," the ice user said after several moments silence. "Will she be staying here?"

Naruto nodded again. "For the night, at least," he said. "I'm not gonna let her go home this late. Tomorrow, maybe the next day even. She's more than a guest, though. Haku, she's the jinchūriki of the Nanabi. She's just like _me. _She's like… like the sister I wish I had." He smiled sadly. "I don't want to lose her. I've already lost so much…"

Haku felt incredible empathy for his host. To lose so much of your life, and to gain something else entirely unexpected was something he was familiar with. "Is she all right?" he asked.

Naruto smiled warmly. "Oh, don't worry. She's perfectly fine. She's just a little out of it—she ate too much, and now she's tired. Girl fell asleep at the barbeque, even. Had to carry her here." He shook his head and chuckled. "You have no idea how many weird looks I got before I came home."

"I can imagine," Haku said wryly. "Anyway… what are the results of your training mission?"

Naruto let out a huff. "Well, as always, there's good news, and bad news. And _worse _news."

"How about the good news?"

"Good news? Well, in the end, I learned the secret to using Kyuubi's chakra effectively: I either gotta be _really _pissed off, or about to die. It's powerful, but it has a limit."

"The bad news?" Haku prompted.

"There is a group of people dedicated to hunting down jinchūriki, probably for the bijuu inside, and they're all probably strong enough to take us out one by one."

Haku's blood ran cold. "And there's news worse than that" he asked.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. I rescued Fū from them. I was next on the list after her. Basically, we're screwed."

Haku stared blankly at him. "That _is _bad news."

"Yeah." Master of stating the obvious, Haku.

"Who is it?" the boy asked.

Naruto bit his lip. "I don't know," he said. "I have some clues, but nothing to point to a name or and agenda. The bijuu are dangerous if in the wrong hands, but I have no idea how they could be used if they were extracted besides being put into people… but that wouldn't make sense. It would take them years to learn how to cope with the extra chakra, and who knows what the result would be?" He shook his head. "I'm in the dark here, Haku. And I'm scared. Is this… is this what it was like when you were with Zabuza? Being hunted?"

"Perhaps. But I mostly remember feeling protected by Zabuza-sama, as if he was an umbrella that I could hide under and escape the worst of it. I was never really afraid of anything, not even at the worst of times. But what are you going to do about this?"

Naruto's fingers had idly begun playing with Fū's hair again. She made a soft cooing sound as he did. "I have called together a summit of jinchūriki… the Council of Nine."

Haku froze—figuratively, of course. "All of them?" he asked softly. "Including… the Mizukage?"

Naruto knew where this was going. "_No, _Haku. No. You aren't coming. This council was called under flag of truce! If you attack, a known former apprentice of Zabuza, and it gets traced back to Konoha, it'll be all over! Everything that we worked for, fought for, everything I _bled _for to save this girl here would have been for nothing! Do you understand?" He looked down at Fū. "She is my sister… as much as you and Sasuke are my brothers. Families should grow and thrive, not fall! Please, Haku!" He extended his first two fingers of his free hand directly at his angry guest. "Wait on your revenge!"

Haku's long, dexterous fingers flexed in and out slowly. "You ask me to hold on my revenge," he said slowly. "You ask me to stay my hand and not kill the man who ordered the extinction of my clan. How can I just not do a thing?" He looked down and grimaced. "Naruto, what would you do if you found the man who killed your father? Your mother? What would you do if you do if you knew who was responsible for the extinction of you own clan?"

"What would I do?" He closed his eyes. He had been thinking of something along those lines for quite some time now. He knew from his father's memories in his mask that the village that his mother's clan had come from was Uzushiogakure… Whirlpool village. He hadn't known it back then, but the village was on the island that was now named Wave. Sixteen years past, it had been assaulted by an unknown force of hundreds of masked men of incredible skill, and only thirty or forty people had survived altogether. As far as he knew, he was the only Uzumaki left in the world.

"What would I do? I don't have to tell you what I _would _do, Haku. I can tell you what I _will _do to the bastards who destroyed my clan: I will _annihilate them _from the _face of the earth._ But that doesn't mean that I'll risk international _war _for my revenge. Nobody deserves to die over me and my petty vengeance… except for anyone in my way.

"Haku. Stay here. Just do your ANBU thing, all right? Promise me that, Haku."

Haku shook his head. "No, Naruto-san. I can't promise that. Untold hundreds of the dead call out to me to avenge them. I cannot ignore them."

"Damn it, Haku! Don't do this to me!"

"I'm sorry, Naruto-san. I must follow my heart and conscience in this matter."

"Gods," Naruto groaned. "Come on, Haku. Don't make me put you on lockdown. I told you that I'm linked to this house and the grounds; if I instruct it all to keep you here against your will, it'll happen. Bank on it."

Haku's steady gaze trapped Naruto's. "If that is what it takes. Nothing short will stop me from following you."

Naruto put his hands on his forehead. "Damn," he muttered. "I guess I don't have much choice, then." He leaned back in the couch and crossed his arms. "Haku, I'm officially designating you as my personal bodyguard for the summit. It will be your personal duty to ensure my safety."

"I could refuse."

Naruto shook his head. "No, you can't, actually. Part of the deal is I can designate anyone I choose, of the whole village, to be my bodyguard. Any prior commitment they have goes out the window. You're stuck, Haku, right where I can see you. I'm doing this for _you._"

Haku scowled. "But—"

"No buts. Besides, beside Sasuke or Hinata, there isn't anyone I feel comfortable with watching my back. Kakashi is already on lock to go, seeing as he's my Jounin-sensei, and Sarutobi _has _to go. there's one more spot to fill, but I haven't figured it out yet. I need people I can trust behind me. Call it a personal favor, will you?"

Haku thought for a moment. "You aren't going to back down, are you?" he asked.

The jinchūriki shook his head. "No," he said softly. "No more than you would."

"I suppose I have to accept, then," Haku said. "When is this summit?"

"Two weeks from today. We leave three days early. That should give us plenty of time to get there without exhausting ourselves."

"Ten days from now, then," Haku muttered. "I'll inform my commander so he can rotate in a suitable replacement."

"Do that. Haku? I'm trusting you to keep me safe. I mean that. I have faith in you, buddy." He narrowed his eyes slightly. "You going to let me down?"

There was something in the young man's eyes that commanded both respect and obedience. _He is so like Zabuza-sama. He has that same fire inside._ Like Zabuza, his demeanor more than demanded respect… he _commanded _it. "No, Naruto-kun," he said softly. "No. You can count on me."

Naruto visibly relaxed. "Thanks, Haku." He smiled. "Anyway, how have you been? What's been going on this past month? Anything exciting happen?"

"Well… not really _exciting. _Went on my first mission three weeks ago—reconnaissance around our borders at Rice country, checking our security checkpoints. Nothing too big. Got back about a week ago, been on daily patrol since then."

"And how're things with Mari?" the blond asked with a raised eyebrow.

Haku's left eye twitched ever-so-slightly. "She dumped me," he said flatly. "She said that it wasn't worth having a boyfriend who would be out of the village more than a few days at a time."

Naruto winced in sympathy. "Ouch. Sorry, my friend."

Haku shrugged and sighed. "No worries. It wasn't meant to be."

All of a sudden, Fū moaned on Naruto's lap and mumbled aloud "Mmm… Naruto… tasty… want _moooore…_"

Haku, to his credit, kept a straight face after hearing that line from the slumbering girl. "Naruto… Is there something you want to tell me?"

Naruto slapped his forehead. "I swear, it makes sense in context." He told Haku about her sucking his blood to regenerate and regain chakra, and her seeming fixation on it.

"So, what you're telling me, Naruto, is that she dreams about _sucking _your _blood?_"

Naruto chuckled. "It would appear that way." He caressed her hair. "But she's so sweet sometimes… You'll like her. She's not some bloodthirsty maniac, I promise."

Haku shook his head. "If you say so, Naruto-kun." It was then that Fū opened her eyes and rubbed them while she sat up.

"Naruto… Mmm…" She yawned widely. "W-where are we?" She stretched her arms up high and leaned back, closing her eyes and moaning at the movement.

"Back at my place, Fū-chan," he told her.

"Ahh, ok." She put her arms down and opened her eyes. "Who's this?"

"My name is Haku," the ANBU boy said. "And you're wearing my kimono."

"Oh! Listen, sorry about that, but my clothes were torn up and dirty and I didn't have anything else to wear and Hinata said it was ok and I swear it was her picking it out not me and I wasn't touching anything of yours, please don't be mad at me!" All of that was said in one breath.

Haku waved a hand. "Don't worry about it," he said, smiling slightly. "It looks better on you anyway. I have plenty of kimono."

"Oh, thank you!" she said energetically. She jumped off of the couch and, before the Hyoton user could react, wrapped her arms around his shoulders in a tight hug. "I'll pay you back for it eventually, I promise!"

Haku stiffened; he _still _wasn't used to intimate physical contact from women. "A-ah, it's all right!" he stammered. "It looks better on you anyway!"

She pulled away and smiled brightly. "Thanks, Haku-kun! You're so sweet!" She took a close look at him, pushing her face bare inches from him. "And so… so… _beautiful_!" She turned around abruptly. "Naruto! Are all of your friends as sexy as this guy?" She twisted back around and hopped onto his lap, her legs on either side of his. She stared intently into his eyes. "You look positively… _delicious._"

"N-Naruto!"

Chuckling morbidly, Naruto got up and put his hands on Fū's shoulders. "Now, now, Fū," he said. "I _just _got done telling Haku that you weren't a bloodthirsty maniac. So keep your teeth to yourself, eh?"

"Wha—Naruto! I don't do that to everybody I meet!" She got off of Haku with a hop and sat herself on the chair's arm. "I only suck blood when I need to!" She looked sidelong at Haku. "I just mean, he's cute! No, more than cute! He's sexy!" She slid off the chair arm and into Haku's lap and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She whispered into his ear, "And I know how to have _fun._"

"Naruto! Do something!"

Naruto sat back down and put his hands in the air and laughed. "Hey, take care of your own battles! Hasn't the ANBU taught you anything? Where are you interpersonal skills?"

"_They didn't teach me this in intimate anatomy class!_" Haku hissed as his face reddened with a blush. "Wait! Where are you going?" He said when Naruto stood.

The boy bent back a little and groaned with the stretch. "I'm going shopping for dinner," he said. "I looked in the cupboards and we don't have what we need. I'll be back in about an hour."

"Wait! Naruto, wait!"

"You two have fun! Fū, you play nice!"

"Always, Naruto-chan!"

A vulpine grin was on Naruto's face as he left the house and closed the door. As he walked away, he could hear a single muffled words shouted from the living room. "_NARUTOOOO!_"

Hinata sniffed the air as she entered the house she called home. "Mmm… Smells good in here. I wonder what Naruto's making."

"Naruto-san cooks?"

Hinata smiled as she looked down at her little sister. "Yep. He's getting pretty good, too." She shut the door and called out. "Hey, Naruto! I'm home! And I brought some company!"

She followed the scents to the kitchen. "I know," Naruto said. "I felt you two coming from a mile away. Who is it?"

The sheer ridiculousness of his appearance in the kitchen forced Hanabi's jaw nearly to the floor, though Hinata was more or less used to it by now. The floppy chef's hat, frilly pink and red apron, and sauce-stained spatula in his hand as he turned around to look at them when they came in was nearly awe-inspiring. "Oh. Um—hey, Hanabi-chan…" He looked at Hinata quizzically. "Hinata-chan… what's going on? Why's your sister here?"

Hinata put her hand on Hanabi's shoulder. "My father and I kinda… patched things up a little. I missed my little sister, and well…" She shrugged. "I kinda bit the bullet. If I have to make nice with Father to get to spend more time with Hanabi-chan, I think it's worth it."

Naruto's eyebrows furrowed. "Seriously? I mean, _seriously? _Come on, Hinata! No disrespect meant Hanabi, but your father is kind of a dick! After the way he's been treating Hinata…" He sighed and turned back to the stove and stirred the tomato sauce in the saucepan. "I don't know."

Hinata came up behind Naruto and wrapped her arms around his waist. "I think this is real," she said. "I really think he wants to make up with me… not as Hinata the Shinobi, or Hinata the Heir, but as Hinata the Daughter." She buried her cheek into his back. "Naruto, I love you, but I need more than you and Sasuke all the time. I need my _family _back."

Naruto's shoulders slumped. "You aren't going back, are you?" he asked, barely audibly.

"No! No, not even!" She let go of him and stepped to the side and leaned against the counter. "This is my home! To me, that place is just a house!"

He nodded, accepting her answer. "All right. I'll take that. Your life is yours, Hinata. All I can do is support your decisions, same as you've supported mine. But that _doesn't _mean I have to like it." He took the wooden spoon from the pot and held it out behind him. "Hey, Hanabi—what you think?"

The young girl tentatively approached the blond dynamo and brushed her lips against the tip. "Um… Maybe a little rosemary?"

Naruto sampled the sauce and nodded. "Good call." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the spice rack on the counter. "Grab some for me, will ya?"

She scurried over to the dried herbs and spices and plucked said jar out and took it on over. Naruto shook a few dashes into the concoction, let it simmer, then sampled again. "Hmm. Perfect. Gonna go great with the meatballs." He turned off the heat and let it sit. "Hinata, could you go get Haku and Fū? I think they went out back somewhere, but that was like an hour ago or so. Could you do your thing?"

Hinata smiled and nodded. "Sure," she said, activating her evolved Byakugan. She let out a muffled _eep! _and quickly turned her bloodline off. Her face turned beet-red and she looked down at the floor.

"What?" Naruto asked, clueless. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing! Nothing's wrong!" Hinata almost shouted. "Everything's fine! I-I'll just—I'll go and tell them that dinner's almost ready!"

She practically ran from the kitchen, not toward the back door… but the steps leading _upstairs. _In an instant, he understood what was going on. He only grinned and chuckled.

"What is it?" Hanabi asked, genuinely perplexed.

"Ah… Well, nothing for someone as young as you to need to worry about, Hanabi-chan," he told her. "You sticking around for dinner? I made plenty; one more couldn't hurt."

"I suppose…" Naruto turned his head to look at her. From what he knew, this was the daughter that Hiashi would have been proud of. But instead of the overconfident, cocky, arrogant Hyuuga demeanor he would have arbitrarily associated with her, it was more like she was, at least for the moment, a _miniature Hinata. _

"Are you ok?" he asked her. "Is something wrong? Are you feeling ok?"

She straightened up and brought herself to meet his eyes. "Yes! Yes, I'm fine!"

Naruto shrugged. "If you say so." He bent down and pulled a rack of garlic bread from the bottom oven and set it on the marble counter with a pair of oven mitts. "Listen, Hanabi-chan… Hinata told me a while ago that you know it was I who saved you that night. That's no secret. I know that you didn't tell your father or anyone else, and I'm grateful for that. If you're afraid of me or something, I understand. Really, I do. I'll leave you alone if you want. But I just need you to know something: I didn't do it because I'm some kinda hero or anything like that. I did it because it was the right thing to do." He smiled at the young girl over his shoulder. "And I'd do it again in a second."

"I-I know," Hanabi said. "I just want you to know that I'll always appreciate you, Naruto-san. Thank you for saving me, and thank you for… for saving my sister."

Naruto slowly took the oven mitts off and untied the apron, setting it over on the counter. "Your welcome," he said solemnly. "Like I said… any time. And to be fair, she's done as much saving me as I her." He crossed his arms loosely. "She's the best thing that's ever happened to me. I'd probably just be some punk in sunglasses and a trenchcoat without her to kick me into shape."

Hanabi smiled at the mental imagery. "Good thing. I cannot imagine you in a trenchcoat, Naruto-san."

Naruto laughed and patted the top of the girl's head. "Gods, me neither. What kind of idiot would I have to be to wear _that_?" He turned away from her and opened the top oven and inhaled. "Mmm… That smells good." He grabbed a mitt and withdrew the meatballs from it and set the pan on the stove. "Hanabi, grab some tongs for me?"

The girl plucked a pair from a ceramic jar on the counter and passed them over. Naruto began gently plopping them into the sauce and, when he had dropped them all in, turned the oven onto a low heat. "There," he said with satisfaction. "This should be done in a few minutes."

He heard footsteps coming down the stairs. "Here we go," he muttered to himself. "I'm gonna have some fun with this."

Hanabi looked at him quizzically. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Naruto smirked. "You'll understand when you're older, Hanabi-chan," is all he said. "But I'd like you to meet some friends of mine." He opened a cupboard and pulled out a stack of plates. "Come on and help me set the table, will ya?"

Hanabi nodded obediently and followed him to the dining room table. "Set these in place, I'll be right back." She took the plates and he walked off toward the steps, just as Haku and Fū, followed closely by Hinata, reached the bottom floor.

Haku was beet-red in the face, and Fū had what amounted to a satisfied, shit-eating grin. "Hey, Naruto!" Fū said happily. "You're back? Great, I'm starving!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm back," he said, smiling. "Um. Dinner's almost ready, just go and sit down. And Fū? _Behave. _We have a guest, and I don't need you…" He looked over his shoulder at Hanabi putting the last plate in place. "…_scarring _her," he finished in a near-whisper.

The green-haired girl smirked. "Now, Naruto-chan," she said, "would I do a thing like that?"

Naruto looked at her deadpan. "Hinata? Make sure she behaves?"

Hinata nodded with a smirk. "Yeah, I think I can manage." She grabbed Fū by the arm of her kimono—a different one than she had had on earlier, he noted wryly.

"Thanks. Haku," Naruto said, grabbing onto the taller boy's sleeve as he tried to pass with the ladies, "hold on a moment."

Haku looked at Naruto quizzically but did as he asked. When the females had gone into the kitchen, (A/N: Don't nobody give me crap about that line!) Haku said, "What is it, Naruto-san?"

Naruto turned his head so Haku could see it and grinned. "So… how was it?"

Haku's flush intensified. "I don't know what you can be referring to, Naruto." He shrugged Naruto off and walked over to the table.

Naruto followed him and whispered in tune, "_Somebody got some, somebody got soooome…_"

_The next day_

"I hate coming here," Hinata said in an almost-whisper. "It's like a ghost town. Creepy."

Naruto shrugged as he walked alongside her. "It's not that bad," he said. "Sasuke manages living here. The least you could do is put up with it for a few hours."

"Sasuke's lived here _alone _for four years! Look!" She pointed out a section of wall that had been demolished in what looked like it had once been a shop of some sort. "There! Right there! Is that blood? Naruto, I think that's blood!"

He sighed. "Hinata, don't be ridiculous. That's just wood that's been out to the elements for too long. See? That's cedar wood. Naturally red. The paint's been leeched by rain without upkeep for too long." He pointed at a spot on the other side of the road. "Now, see that? _That's _blood."

Hinata pivoted and began walking back the way they had come. "That's it," she snapped. "You can do this yourself. I am _not _going through this mausoleum."

Naruto sighed and grabbed her from behind by her elbows and gently turned her around in step. "Come on, Hinata, I need you with me on this! We're a team! We need to _talk _as a team! Besides, we haven't seen Sasuke in over a month! We do need to catch up, you know."

"I know…" She shrugged from his grip, but continued on with him. She crossed her arms and shivered. "I just get the creeps here. Nobody around in sight, not for over a hundred yards in any direction…"

"It's not really any different from the Hyuuga compound," Naruto pointed out.

"But at least there's other people there!" she shot back. "There are over two hundred Hyuuga! But this is—it's unnatural…"

Naruto sighed. He could completely understand where Hinata was coming from with this, but even he thought that she was overreacting. Sure, perhaps the utter isolation was a bit unnerving, and _maybe _the empty buildings and abandoned streets had him looking out the corners of his eyes a bit more often than usual… "Just relax," he soothed her. "Look, there's Sasuke's place. Almost there."

"Are you sure he's even back from his mission yet?" Hinata asked.

He nodded. "Yeah. I had a friend from the mission office on the lookout for when he reported in. She sent me a message with her personal cat summon that he had gotten in earlier this morning. So just _chill. _We'll be inside in just a few minutes."

They reached the front door of the Uchiha clan head's household and knocked. After a couple moment's wait, the door was opened, and there stood Uchiha Sasuke himself.

Naruto, not exactly known for tact, flatly said "Holy shit" before he could catch himself.

Sasuke had had a number done on him. His head was wrapped in bandages all over his forehead and around his chin; in fact, except for his left eye, nose, and mouth, nothing on his head but his hair was exposed. "Naruto… Hinata… Hey. Didn't expect you to be here this soon. Come in." He turned to allow his teammates to follow him into the house.

After a moment of stunned immobility, Hinata dragged Naruto into the house and shut the door. "Hi, Sasuke," she said tentatively. "Um… How are y—"

"What the _fuck _happened to you?" Naruto blurt out.

Hinata thwapped him across the chest with the back of her hand, _hard. _"Naruto!" she admonished him. "Gods, can you be any _more _insensitive?"

Sasuke chuckled as he lead them into the living room. "Don't worry about it," he said. "It's nothing to worry about. Sit down. Do you want anything to drink?"

Naruto waved him off, but Hinata asked for a glass of water. Sasuke disappeared for a moment, then returned with the requested beverage and one for himself. "Sorry about the idiot," Hinata said, apologizing on behalf of Naruto.

"Don't worry about it," Sasuke said. "It's not as bad as it looks."

"What happened, though?" Naruto asked. "I mean… did a mission go wrong while we were gone or something?"

Sasuke shook his head. "No. Actually, most of this is camouflage. Unnecessary."

Naruto and Hinata shared a glance. "Camouflage? What the hell does that mean?" the blond asked.

Sasuke reclined in his couch and smirked. "I mean, dobe, that nothing's wrong with me. Only my eye needed to be covered up. But if _only _my eye was bandaged, people might start asking questions."

"What's wrong with your eye?" Hinata asked. "Did it get hurt or something?"

The avenger shook his head. "No, nothing like that." A smile crept to his lips. "Do you remember the first time we met the Sanseirei? In the library, I mean?" His partners nodded. "Remember when Shukusatsu told me I'd get a new, more powerful doujitsu?"

Naruto nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I remember. He's finally following up on his promise, eh?"

"Is that why your eye is covered?" Hinata asked.

"Mm. Exactly."

"But why?" Naruto said.

"Because… Well, it'd be easier to show you, I suppose." He looked down, reached behind his head and undid the snap holding his bandages tight. Slowly, he pulled them off and around, letting the ends fall to the floor. When his entire face was unwrapped he looked up at his comrades, eyes wide open.

"Holy shit," Naruto breathed.

Sasuke's face was unscarred, as perfect as it had been the last time they had seen it. His left eye was normal, but his right… It wasn't _there. _In place of his eye, there was a black matte _void, _a pit of black that seemed to absorb the very light itself.

"Sasuke," Hinata breathed. "What did you _do_?"

Sasuke looked at their astonished faces for a few seconds… then began _laughing uproariously. _"Oh, man, you should see the looks on your faces!"

Naruto and Hinata looked at each other in bemusement as Sasuke continued to laugh. "What's going on?" Hinata whispered.

"I have no idea!" Naruto replied. "Um, Sasuke? Mind explaining what's going on?"

Sasuke calmed down, though he still was grinning. "Sorry, sorry," he said. "Your expressions were just priceless!" He took a few deep breaths and relaxed. "All right…" He sat upright. "There. It's out of my system now. Sorry about that, but I just couldn't hold it in."

Hinata smiled, though Naruto rubbed his forehead. "How long've you been waiting to pull that one out?" he asked.

"Let's see… You left over a month ago… Spent sixteen days in the Forest of Death… So, yeah, about two weeks now. And you know what, Naruto? It was very worth it."

Naruto shook his head. "What the hell _happened _to you?" he asked. "Is that your… Your new eye?"

"Hn. Not exactly. You see, it wasn't as simple as I thought it would be, rewriting my DNA. There aren't any magic words to make new Kekkei Genkai.

"Most of the two weeks I spent in the forest training were primarily devoted to learning the basic levels of shadow manipulation. It really wasn't hard, though it took a while for me to attune my chakra to the frequency that Shukusatsu says the power comes from. He said that my doujitsu would be intrinsically linked to the shadow world… so it needed to _come _from the shadow world."

"Are you telling us that your eye is… it's…"

Sasuke shook his head. "It's not what you think, Naruto. What you see isn't my eye. This is a gateway, a link, to the shadows. Inside my eye socket, at this very moment, Shukusatsu is gathering from all corners of the shadow dimension the most powerful mystical energies and biological matter and is working on fabricating them into the single most powerful doujitsu in the world."

Naruto shuddered. "Don't take this the wrong way, Sasuke, but that has to be the most creepy, disturbing thing I'd ever heard. And I've had conversations with _Kyuubi._"

"Can't blame you," Sasuke said sympathetically. "Even I think it's messed up. But Shukusatsu says that with this, I'll eventually have a legitimate shot at avenging my clan. To me, that's all that matters."

Hinata shook her head. "This is crazy! You're remaking your entire eye? How is that even possible? What about your… your Sharingan?"

Sasuke smirked. "The Sharingan… for now, it still lives." He closed his left eye for a moment. When it opened…

"Holy shit!" Naruto shouted, jumping out of his seat.

Hinata stared in shock. "Is that—is that what I _think _it is?" she asked

Sasuke nodded curtly. "It is," he said. "This is my Sharingan… the Mangekyou Sharingan." Three overlapped ovals blazed black and red, the faint malevolent aura of his blood inheritance. "Naruto, sit down. You're acting like an idiot again."

"But you—that—how?" Naruto spread his arms, flabbergasted. "You told us that to activate the Mangekyou, you had to…" His eyes opened in stunned understanding. "…kill your… best friend…" He slowly moved back to the couch and sat down. "Sasuke," he said softly. "Who did you kill?"

Sasuke deactivated the Sharingan, his eye going ebony once again. "Nobody," he told his friend. "No one had to die for my eye." He looked at Naruto. "And if you can shut up for more than a minute or two, I could _explain _the hows."

Naruto tensed, but sat down slowly, his eyes never leaving his friend's face. The Mangekyou frightened him more than he thought it possibly would. "Shukusatsu said," he spoke in as neutral a tone as he could, "that you wouldn't be getting the Sharingan. He insinuated that it would be impossible. So how…?"

Sasuke sighed. "Listen," he said. "It'll take time for my new eye to develop. For obvious reasons, I can only have one made at a time. I'm good, but even I wouldn't last long running blind. To compensate, Shukusatsu activated my Sharingan, and…"

"You got the Mangekyou," Hinata finished.

Sasuke nodded. "Yes."

"How?" Naruto snapped.

The raven-haired Uchiha glanced significantly at his friend. "When the Sharingan was formed all those years ago," he said, "there was a kind of psychological block to prevent the full potential from being reached. Much as the human body cannot attain full potential with extreme stress being put on it, the Mangekyou pushes the boundaries of the human eye.

"The necessity of the Mangekyou, as you know, is killing your best friend." He paused for a moment and rummaged in his pockets. He withdrew a half-full pack of cigarettes, pulled one out with a practiced motion, and lit it alive with his lighter while sucking the end.

"Sorry," he mumbled as he put his items away. "Force of habit. Shukusatsu got me addicted. Anyway… yeah. The break of the block is attained when your psyche cracks, just a little bit, when the ultimate betrayal is made. Shuku found that wall and—well, he tore it down manually. No murder, no death. Boom, Mangekyou."

"Ah. I see." Naruto relaxed visibly. "So you have the Mangekyou. Who knows?"

"Kakashi-sensei and Sarutobi. Nobody else." He narrowed his eyes fractionally. "And I'd like to keep it that way. I don't mind if people know that I have the Sharingan, but I'd prefer for people not to put two and two together on false information. Hell, you never know when you can use something like this to your advantage." He inhaled deeply from his cig, the faint cloud of smoke curling lazily up to the ceiling. Twin plumes exhaled from his nostrils as he released. "Enough about me, though. Tell me what's been up since we last saw each other."

Hinata and Naruto nodded. "About that," he said. "We've been kinda busy lately." For the next fifteen minutes or so, he detailed their escapades since leaving the village the prior month, their training activities, the confrontation with the cloaked shinobi… all of it. Sasuke listened without question through it all, and lit another cigarette on the dying embers of his first before stubbing it in the ashtray beside him.

"Hmm. You've been busy, I see." He took a last drag from his second cancer stick and stubbed it out. "Can't you two ever stay out of trouble?"

Naruto shook his head in rue. "I keep telling people, I don't go looking for people to kill me. But they never believe me."

Hinata looked sidelong at him. "You do tend to attract trouble," she pointed out.

The blond shook his head. "It's not my fault! Anyway… Sasuke. There's something that you need to know about all of this."

Hinata's hand was suddenly latched onto his forearm in a vice-like grip. "No." She shook her head emphatically. "Not now, Naruto."

Naruto looked steadily and unwaveringly into her eyes. Rarely did they have a true disagreement, but when they did, it was nothing less than a war of wills. "Yes," he said neutrally, keeping her gaze locked. "This is important. He of all people _deserves to know. _I already told the council. How long do you think it'd take for someone to leak it out anyway?"

She glared daggers at him for a moment longer, then abruptly released him, turned away, and crossed her arms. "You do whatever you please," she said sourly. "I'm out of this."

He groaned mental _and _audibly. _Here we go… _He looked Sasuke in the eye, and the—well, where his eye _should _have been. "This group," he said slowly, "is apparently made of several members. Most of them, it would seem, are at an extremely high skill level. These are people who can hunt down jinchūriki with confidence. It seems that they even managed to recruit, at one point… your brother."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Naruto knew that he had probably made a grave error in his calculations. Sasuke, as a general rule, was calm, collected, and in total control of himself. Rarely, if ever, did he let his emotions slip to the surface and visibly manifest. At times, it was as if it would take an act of the gods themselves to get some expression from him.

The gods, being the bastards that they were, apparently kept the hinges on his psyche loosely bolted.

Sasuke's lone Sharingan blazed into crimson and black as the three tomoe melded into the three overlapping ovals of his own Mangekyou. Unlike before, when he had merely brought it out for display, it was now leaking malevolent intent. Every ounce of his control was being used to keep his body motionless, but, as they say—the eyes are the windows to the soul.

Sasuke's soul was screaming for blood the same hue as his eye.

The hair on the back of Naruto's neck was standing up. Sasuke's killing intent was powerful—almost as powerful as Naruto's was when he decided to push himself with the Kyuubi's chakra. If he were a lesser man, he would have quailed. He may have broken down sobbing, screaming, his will shattering under the immense spiritual pressure his friend was unconsciously letting out.

He merely kept his gaze steady on his best friend.

"Sasuke," he said, softly and in a measured tone. "Do me a favor and stop trying to kill me with your brain."

The Uchiha youth stood up with such force his chair flew backwards and splintered against the wall with an echoing crash. Though his expression was concrete, his body language screamed his rage for him. He spoke a single word. "Itachi." Coming from his lips, it was as if it was the worst curse in the language. "_Itachi."_

Naruto bit his lip. "Sasuke, calm down," he said. "I know how you feel, all right? Just listen to me for a moment!" He stood and approached his friend slowly, stopping just outside of arm's reach. "They're coming for me. I don't know when, I don't know how, and I don't know where. I don't know who they all are, only a couple at the moment. There's nothing we can do right now but go along with everything."

"Are you _serious_?" Sasuke spat. "If Itachi is with them, that's a lead I have to follow!"

"And if you go after him now, you're as good as dead!" Naruto replied. "Do you honestly think you stand a chance against him right now? Really?"

"_It doesn't matter what I think!_" Sasuke shouted. "The honor of my clan—"

"A clan that's made of two people!" Hinata said. "Sasuke, what honor is there in dying? If you strike now, or try to, when we know so little, what good will it do? If you die, what will be the remainder of the Uchiha? The clan you hold so much stock and store in? It will be nothing but the brother you want dead!" She stood up and stalked to the slightly-startled Uchiha, jabbing him in the chest with a stiff finger. "Use your head, for once! If he can send you riling with just the mention of his name, what do you think your vaunted clan honor will come to?" Though she was several inches shorter than Sasuke, her steely eyes seemed to stared down at him. "_Nothing._"

"But—"

"But _what_?" Hinata interrupted. "Do you have the skills to beat your brother now? How about you ask Shukusatsu?"

Sasuke frowned. "I already know what he'd say."

"Damn right, you do," Naruto said. "I promise you, I'll relay everything to you I learn about him, ok? But until something happens, we're stuck. I'm the one with the target on my back, not you."

Sasuke turned his head away, breaking Hinata's death glare. "When?" he asked. "When do you think they'll come after you?"

Naruto blinked. "Deidara told me that Itachi was supposed to come and get me in about two months or so. I don't know when or where it'll be, or even if that's a set timetable. I'm as in the dark about this as you are." He sighed. "That's what this jinchūriki summit is all about. We need to share information, all of the villages. Pooling our resources and tightening our defenses is the most important thing we can do."

"Will Itachi be there?"

Naruto stared at his friend. "Why would he?" he asked.

Sasuke cocked a brow. "Seriously? With all of the jinchūriki in one place, this seems like it would be a prime opportunity to strike."

The blond shook his head. "No way. If I'm reading this right, there's going to be eight demons, five Kage, and the full support of their attendants and bodyguards. On top of that, the military might of the Iron Samurai is _not _to be trifled with. There's a very good reason there has never in the history of the world of shinobi been a war fought against them. We'll be plenty safe."

"I'm going anyway," Sasuke said.

Naruto shook his head again. "Impossible. The jinchūriki may only bring three others from their village. Sarutobi is coming, as is his right as Hokage, and Kakashi, as my Jounin-sensei. Haku is acting as my bodyguard. That leaves one spot open, for Sarutobi to fill. We still have to work that out."

Sasuke glowered. "This isn't right."

"It's the _only way._"

"It's _your way_!" Sasuke shouted. "It's always _your _way, Naruto! _You _always know what's best! _You _know the right thing to do! You know what's best for us! It's always about you!"

Naruto stared incredulously at his partner. "You think I _like _being me?" he said dangerously quietly. "You think… you think that this is easy for me?" He shook his head slowly. "Hell no. We've both—we've all had it rough. You, me, Hinata, Haku. We're all in this together. We all have had to do things we're not proud of. Did you stop to think that, maybe, I wish I was anyone else?" He crossed his arms. "Sasuke, people expect certain things of us all, but me especially. For most of my life, I've been looked down on. People hate me for existing. I'm supposed to just be some monster that they tolerate.

"You and Hinata are my family. Sometimes, in a family, hard decisions have to be made. I'm telling you you can't go because there are rules that have to be followed. If any more come besides those allowed, it could be construed as an act of _war. _That's exactly what we _don't _want right now." He jabbed at his own chest. "I'm fighting to survive! There are people out there dedicated to finding me, taking me, and probably killing me! I'm terrified to the bone, and all you can think about is yourself?"

"Naruto," Hinata murmured. "Stop, please. Look at Sasuke for a moment. Just… look."

Naruto glanced over at her, then back at the Uchiha. For the first time, his face showed real emotion.

Fear.

"Sasuke…"

The boy waved him off. "Don't, Naruto," he said. "Just don't."

Naruto looked down. "Sasuke. I know what you're feeling. You want revenge as much as I do. But I need you to keep it together. Your time will come. I promise. And when Itachi comes for me—if he does—you're the _first _person I'd want by my side. I need to know that you'll be ready for it. I need to know that you can be calm when the moment comes. You need to be the sane one to counter Itachi's insanity. But most of all, I need to know that I can count on you." His shoulders sagged, fractionally. "I can't—I can't do this without you. Either of you."

Sasuke dragged a hand through his hair. "Damn it, Naruto," he muttered. "I can't promise you that. Any of it."

"I know," Naruto said softly. "I wouldn't believe you if you did."

Sasuke allowed a ghost of a smirk to his lips. "And you still trust me?"

Naruto raised his head and nodded shortly. "Without reservation." With a small, sad smile, he said, "It's what family is all about: trust."

A pregnant silence fell between them. Sasuke nodded slowly, thoughtfully. "All right. I'll play by your rules. For now. But if it comes to it, Itachi's _mine._"

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

Hinata walked beside Naruto as they exited the more-or-less abandoned Uchiha compound. "That was close," she said quietly to him.

"I know," Naruto replied. "Believe me, I know. But he deserves to know the truth. I won't be the kind of person who withholds from those he cares about. I can't do that and pretend to be the man I want to be."

Hinata wrapped her arms around his bicep and pulled him in, leaning against him slightly as they walked, gently nuzzling her cheek into his shoulder. "I know," she echoed. "That's one thing I love about you." She looked up to meet his cerulean eyes. "You actually care. You're a good man, Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto bent his head down slightly to kiss her softly. "What did I ever do to deserve you?" he asked with a smile.

"Who knows?" She squeezed his arm affectionately. "Don't worry about it too much, though. I'll be around for a long, long time to come. And there's nothing you can do about it."

He chuckled. "Well, I suppose there are worse ways to spend a lifetime than this," he said. "I guess I'll learn to live with it."

They walked in silence until they left the compound border. "What now?" Hinata asked Naruto after a moment.

He let out a huff. "Now? Now, I go and study everything I can get my hands on about the other jinchūriki and the current international relationship status. If I'm going to be playing politician, I'm going to need to bone up some."

"Naruto the politician," Hinata mused. "Just think of it as 'Hokage training.'"

Naruto laughed. "Maybe," he agreed. "And you know how much I love training."

Hinata smiled and nodded. The two of them walked arm-in-arm toward the Hokage Tower together, relishing every moment as if it would never end.

_Nine days later…_

"Damn it," Naruto muttered impatiently. "Where the hell is he?" The dawn's early light shone through the opened gates, illuminating him with faint golden hues.

Nothing more than a flicker of an eyelid betrayed Sarutobi's shared ire. "He'll be here," he growled. "Kakashi may be trying at times, but he is nothing if not reliable."

Naruto looked up at the Hokage. "Why, Sarutobi-sama. I didn't know you had such a sense of humor."

That flat statement actually made the old man smile. "Surprises are like deep old wells, Naruto. You never know what you'll pull from the bottom."

The boy shook his head. "I swear, if he doesn't show up soon, I'll—" On instinct, he shut up abruptly. "He's right behind me, isn't he?"

Kakashi put a hand on Naruto's head and ruffled his hair. "Why, good morning, Naruto," he said amiably, a smile in his voice. "You know, maybe I'm getting old before my time, but it sounded suspiciously like you were preparing to threaten my life. That couldn't be the case, though, could it? In fact, you'd never even _think _of doing something as foolhardy."

Naruto gulped. For all of the improvements he'd made in the nearly-seven months since graduation, he knew that he was nowhere even close to Kakashi's skill. "Never," he agreed. "That would be extremely disrespectful. The thought never even crossed my mind." A fox-like smile stuck him. "Though, if I were to be properly motivated, I'm sure that I could think of something to do with your perverted old book were I sufficiently inclined. I wonder, does colored paper burn different colors?"

Kakashi immediately stepped backwards and instinctively put a palm on his bum pouch. "I don't know," he said, his exposed eye widening a few millimeters in surprise. "Though, if we ever do find out, I'm sure that extra training sessions with Gai could be arranged. I'm told that you need to work more on your taijutsu, yes?"

Haku and Sarutobi looked at the pair as their gazes locked. He leaned slightly toward the old man and muttered, "One hundred on Naruto to get the book before we return."

Sarutobi grinned. He'd come to truly enjoy this young man. "Five hundred on Kakashi. And Naruto limps home."

Haku smiled slightly. "Done."

Sarutobi cleared his throat. "Boys. If you're done threatening each other, it's time to go." _Ah, the young. So full of life. _

The pair instantly snapped to attention. _I've still got it, _he thought with pride. "Are you ready to depart?" he asked Naruto.

He nodded. "All set. Already said all my goodbyes. Ready when you are."

The old man snorted. "Kakashi? Haku?"

Twin affirmations sounded out. "Good." He singled Naruto out. "Naruto… this is it. No going back now."

"I'm ready," he repeated. "I didn't do all that preparing just to turn tail. My survival could depend on this summit. I've got everything riding on this, you know."

"We know," Kakashi drawled. "You can count on us. If everything goes as planned, a new age of peace could spread across the land."

"And if it fails, a world war the likes of which has never been known could destroy us all," Naruto pointed out. "By the way… who else is coming with us? I'm supposed to bring four people—you, a bodyguard, an advisor, and a fourth to be determined by you."

Sarutobi dipped his hat. "Yes. I have an agent in the field that I trust implicitly. He has intelligence sources that are unmatched. With any luck, he'll know something we don't. We will rendezvous with him tomorrow before we stop for the night. That will give us a full two days to discuss our strategy and compare notes before we arrive in Iron.

"Hm. Sounds reasonable," Naruto said. "What's his name?"

Sarutobi told him.

Naruto scowled. "Let's go," he snapped. "We don't have all day." He stalked off through the gates, not even waiting to see if the others were with him. Haku instantly was at his side, though Kakashi and the Hokage hung back for a moment.

Kakashi looked sidelong at Sarutobi. "Hokage-sama, it's not my place to question you," he said. "But… well, maybe it wasn't such a great idea to tell him who our contact is."

"He's motivated. That's the important thing."

Kakashi pulled his copy of _Icha Icha Paradise _from his pocket. "Famous last words, boss. Remember what happened the last time you tried to 'motivate' him?"

Sarutobi smirked. "As I recall, he ended up saving a girl, exposed a plot aimed against him, and potentially saved the lives of countless people. And before that, I do believe that he went and delivered an entire country from tyranny. I think my record speaks for itself."

Kakashi paused, then shrugged. "Point taken. You seem like you know what you're doing, I suppose. At least he doesn't want you dead this time.

"Thank the gods for small favors." He began walking after Naruto and Haku. "Here we go, then." In a blur, they flickered out of existence, an instant before the two youths followed suit.

A/N: Yay! We're finally on our way!

Still inebriated. Sounds fun, but I'll probably have one heck of a hangover in the morning. Most likely, I'll be popping Tylenol like Skittles by ten a.m. tomorrow. Have pity on poor old me!

Poor Haku. The guy goes through so much. I decided to mess with him a bit. I hope he appreciates it! My characters don't know the stress I go through for them! In the interest of time and space (I'm talking about personal time, not the brain breaking kind) I didn't write out the scene… though, if asked, I just might reconsider and edit this chapter and add it in.

I've got nothing much else to say right now. Life is good. Food is tasty.

Find something that you love to do and just do it. Don't worry about what people think.

Review, please!

Peace.

~dead witch


	32. Council of Nine Part 1

Here's chapter 32! Sorry about the wait, I've been really busy lately. I got a new external hard drive and put a whole bunch of movies onto it from my dad, _including _a "Girls Gone Wild" video. _Awkward. _

But I've been watching the whole series of Gundam Wing, and I'm around episode 30. Lovin it.

Made some shrimp kabobs today! They were delicious! Accompanied them with fried mushrooms; granted, they were a tad on the salty side, but I spiced it up with enough subtle flavors where that wasn't such a big deal.

It's payday today! Probably going out with some friends and getting tipsy :) If not, then I'll be at the Borders in the mall. Most likely I'll be posting this from there lol

This chapter's pretty much half comedy, half drama, and one _hell _of a twist ending. If you scrolled down you're a cheater cheater pumpkin eater! Get off my page!

I'm reading a bunch of other fics too… Man, lots of good stuff out there!

I'm working on the next chapter of Second Chances. For those who've been wondering about that, give me about three days or so on that one. Been thinking hard about where it's going, and I think I have finally figured it out. Get ready for a head trip.

Also, I have a Teen Titans fic on the shelf. Tentatively titled "Slate City Titans" it brings together the Cartoon Network versions of Red Star, Kid Flash, Jinx, Argent, and Static Shock. Yes, _that _Static Shock.

Hrm… Review time, I guess.

**Twilight- The Moon Spirit: You know, I'm not sure anybody has ever don a Haku/Fū fic before, even if they're only secondary characters. This is me bringing new and interesting stuff to the game! Also, Sasuke... Yeah, he's going to get a whole slew of new techniques. Believe it or not, when I finalized his new eyes' abilities, I kinda shuddered.**

**Dragon Man 180: I like the Fū and Haku thing... Seems to be right somehow. Working on the lemon right now, it should be published in a few days or so. To be honest, after this arc, she's not going to be around for too much longer, but I'll try to bring her back every now and then.**

**Sinewyk: Well, Hinata's demeanor has changed a lot since her Academy days. This is just who she is right now. I like her like this.**

**IfOnlyIf: Sorry about your computer, and I know how it is to have to read these things off of laptops . It's a pain! I'm quite proud of the individual scenes from last chapter. I did them as best as I could, same as all the rest.**

**chaos-bardok: Cheesy reviews are always welcome :) I'm not complaining! Thanks for reading and reviewing!**

**Silver Warrior: Come back in a few days, and you'll see just HOW she distracted him! ;-)**

**Shrumples: I just like picking on you, buddy! Relax! As for your questions, most of them are answered below... Though not all of them.**

**strawberry-pocky-luvr: I love strawberry pocky too! Though the mocha ones are my favorite... Lol. Enjoy!**

That knocks off all of the important review answers! As always, let me know what you think! On with the show!

* * *

**Chapter 32**

Even in the late spring season, snow fell heavily upon the country of Iron. The soft crunches of footfall echoed ominously through the trees as the party of five treaded cautiously in unfamiliar land.

Never had Naruto been so cold; Fire Country was almost perpetually warm, even in the dead of winter. He'd seen snow once or twice, but nothing of this magnitude. Everywhere he looked, a thick layer of white enveloped the land, the trees, the mountains, as if some colossal being had decided white was this country's official color.

His lungs burned with each inhalation, his breath turning to opaque vapor in their release. _How could people live here? _he asked himself. _Who would voluntarily make this wasteland their home?_

"How much further?" he asked aloud to nobody in particular.

Kakashi grunted. "Another half hour or so," he replied. "It has been quite a while since I've been up this way, but from what I remember, this road should take us there directly."

"Good," Naruto mumbled. "The sooner we get out of this damned snow, the better." Even with two layers of coat and cloak, the chill was getting to him more than he cared to admit.

"It is not that bad," Haku said pleasantly, his ANBU mask set to the side of his face. "Actually, I find it quite invigorating."

"You would," Naruto grumbled. "Cheap-ass broken Kekkei Genkai."

"Now, now," Sarutobi admonished. "It's not proper to insult your _bodyguard, _Naruto."

The blond sighed and looked up to heavens just as white as the earth. "Believe me, I know. Though it might be easier if he did put me out of my misery…"

"It would be a quieter walk, that's for sure, gaki," a certain white-haired man said with a smile.

Not for the first time, Naruto was forced to resist the urge to deck the older man. He knew, however, that it would be impossible for him to lay contact on that wretched face unless it was allowed. The legendary Toad Sage, Jiraiya, was not one to trifle with.

All too well, he recalled the first time he had encountered the man… and how he had embarrassed himself to the point that he would never live it down.

* * *

_Flashback_

* * *

"So, who exactly is this contact we're supposed to meet up?" the miserable jinchūriki asked. After a morning and afternoon of nonstop tree hopping—in which the elder Sarutobi was leading—they had stopped at a small village obviously catering to the more lavish crowd. Casinos, brothels, and other entertainment aimed at men could be found on most every corner, along with some of the more legally-questionable shops here and there.

Sarutobi looked down at the boy from the corner of his eye, a small smirk in his glance. He had doffed his ceremonial robes by then, putting them and his hat into a storage scroll. He had traded that outfit for a more utilitarian ensemble of brown slacks and tan shirt, though he'd kept his extremely-long tasseled hitai-ate upon his head. Anyone glancing casually at him would probably think that he was simply an _extremely _veteran shinobi, as most of the world knew him by reputation, not by sight. Indeed, without his garb of office, no one would even think of associating him to the powerhouse that he truly was.

"An old friend," he replied. "He used to be a student of mine, long, long ago. He left the village several years ago, though he updates me regularly with status reports on foreign intelligence."

Naruto frowned. "Does this 'old friend' have a name?"

The Hokage merely smiled. "Several. He occasionally works under an alias, but his newer career as an author has garnered him nearly as much notoriety as his shinobi exploits."

Naruto harrumphed. "You're not going to tell me who it is, are you?"

Sarutobi chuckled. "Now, where would the fun in that be?"

Naruto looked over at Kakashi. "Sensei?"

The Copy-Nin looked at Naruto briefly with a glance that, without question, said "Don't look at me, I just work here" and went right back to the orange book in his hand, and resumed giggling. Naruto shivered. He understood more than most just how dangerous and deadly the silver-haired Hatake was. That he even _could _giggle was unnerving.

"None of you are any help," he muttered.

"All in due time, Naruto-san," Haku put out. "There must be a reason they wish to keep his identity a secret. Perhaps his anonymity is pertinent?"

He shook his head. "Not a chance," Naruto said. "They're just enjoying watching me get antsy. Probably just some old useless retiree."

Kakashi and Sarutobi shared a chuckle that did not go unnoticed by the younger pair. Naruto shivered… this could _not _end well for him.

"So, where did he tell you he would be?" Kakashi asked Sarutobi.

The old man stroked his beard idly. "He didn't. But knowing him…" He glanced at a town map on a nearby bulletin board in the middle of a circular cobblestone court. He went to it and began tracing a finger over the main points of interest advertised. "Knowing him, somewhere around… Here" He jabbed a finger at the local hot springs resort on the other side of town.

Kakashi nodded. "Hm. He still hasn't changed, has he?" he asked lazily after glancing up and then back down.

Sarutobi smiled. "Not a chance. He's too set in his ways."

Naruto and Haku's glances met. _What are they talking about? _their eyes asked each other silently. Haku shrugged; philosophically, he knew that they would find out when the time came. He had much more patience than his younger charge, born from years of tutelage under one of the strongest swordsmen in the known world. Though his brash friend would scoff, he knew from experience that oftentimes, the answer would often come when the question needed to be answered.

They set out in the direction the map indicated, and it wasn't too long before they reached their destination. "What now?" Naruto asked, a slight hint of sarcasm in his tone.

Kakashi put his book away for a moment. "Now… we look around." He walked off by himself to the left, around the outer bamboo wall.

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Naruto shouted after him. "Where the hell do you think you're going?"

Kakashi glanced over his shoulder and eye-smiled. "I'm taking a walk," he said. "Relax, Naruto. You and Haku can go the other way."

"And in the meantime," Sarutobi added, "I'm going to go and take a bath. These stiff joints of mine are begging for an onsen."

Naruto stared at the old man as he went in through the front gates and on up to the receptionist while Kakashi disappeared from sight around a bend. "I don't believe this!" he cried. "What the hell is going on here?"

Haku shrugged once again. "Who knows?" he said. "But the sooner we get looking…"

Naruto held up a hand and interrupted his friend. "I know, I know. The sooner we find what we're looking for." He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Let's go, I suppose. Not like this day can get any worse than it already has."

The ice-using shinobi frowned. While not terribly superstitious, he knew that it wasn't wise to tempt fate as Naruto was prone to do. He kept his opinion to himself, though. If karma was to fall upon Naruto's head, he'd rather keep his distance in that regard. He followed Naruto around the wall, listening to his disgruntled ramblings stoically, as usual.

After a few moments of casual walk, Naruto held a hand up in the classic silent signal for "halt." "You hear that?" he whispered to Haku quietly.

Haku nodded. It was around the corner at the back edge of the onsen, just out of sight. Over the splashes and peals of laughter and the subtle hum of conversation from women inside, a quiet chortle could be heard that was entirely alien to the rest of the background noise.

Naruto glanced behind him. "What do you think? A peeping Tom?"

Haku nodded. "Most likely." He held a hand in front of him and, after a half second, a tiny mirror made of ice formed in it. Edging around Naruto, he held it just over the side of the corner.

A man in red and green could be seen through the steam escaping from between the long, thin bamboo struts. He was crouched low with an eye to the wall, his long mane of white hair falling over his back. Haku angled the mirror so that Naruto could see more clearly. "What do you say, Haku?" Naruto said, a wicked grin on his lips. "Wanna make the world a better place?"

Haku nodded, a small smile on his lips. "It would be my pleasure," he replied. "You go high."

"You go low." Naruto held three fingers in the air, then quickly counted down. When he closed his fist, the two dashed from their hiding place and rushed the old pervert.

Haku quickly flashed through one-handed signs, turning the ground beneath the man's feet into a single sheet of ice. The wooden clogs on the geezer's feet would have no chance to gain traction on the slippery surface.

Naruto launched into a flying windmill kick using a technique taught to him by Maito Gai. As inane as its name was, it was an effective surprise maneuver. "Konoha Senpuu!" he shouted with unabashed gusto, aiming a kick (though not with his full power, of course) at the rather large man's head.

Mid-kick, Naruto realized that he had made a horrible error in judgment.

As soon as they broke from cover, the man glanced their way in annoyance. He muttered something to himself, then slammed a palm to the ground. A gigantic yellow toad appeared in front of him in a puff of smoke; before Naruto could react, a long tongue shot out of its mouth and wrapped around his extended leg, whipped him left, then right, smashing him through the bamboo and on into the onsen.

He skipped across the water once, twice, then slammed into a rocky stair step carved into the pool. His back blazed in pain with the impact, overwhelming the screams from startled ladies young and old shouting "_PERVERT! PERVERT!"_ and the like.

His head swam, both with pain and the sudden surrounding heat. He tried to sit up, but his back had taken quite a walloping. He clinched his teeth and grimaced; this was _not _how he had thought this would go!

"Are you all right?" Naruto looked to his left. Sitting not three feet from him was a beautiful young woman, no older than two or three years older than himself. She was raven-haired, slender, and _magnificently _proportioned for her age… and completely _naked._

"Uh," the ever-quick-tongued shinobi said. "I… um… I've had better days." He winced as a sharp pain shot up his side. "Much, _much _better days."

She moved through the water, sliding over the steps in ways that did interesting things to her anatomy. Concern was spelled across her face as she approached him, unabashed in her nudity. "What just happened?" she asked as she sidled up to him. "Are you hurt?"

Fighting through the pain, he pushed himself up into a sitting position, only for his arm to buckle. He fell to his side, only to be caught by the girl. (Un)Fortunately for him, his head landed on her front. To be fair, it was a soft, comfortable landing. "Nothing much more than my pride," he mumbled.

The girl chuckled. "Oh, really, now?"

"Naruto!" Both of them looked up to see Haku dashing over the water at them.

The girl looked at Haku and smiled slyly. "Friend of yours?" she asked.

Naruto nodded. "My bodyguard."

"Ah." She looked up at Haku, Naruto's head still on her chest and smirked. "He seems to be doing a bang-up job."

Haku stared awkwardly at the two. "Ah—um. Are you hurt, Naruto-san?" he asked hesitantly.

"I'll be fine," Naruto groaned. "I just need to get out of this water and go kick some ass."

Haku shook his head, remembering Naruto's self-imposed jinx. "About that," he said. "Naruto? Look." He stepped aside, giving the injured boy a view through the wall that he had been flung through.

The old man stood there scribbling furiously on a notepad, once in a while glancing up to look at them. He was grinning furiously, giggling like a girl as his pen scratched upon the paper. Naruto only then noticed the large horned plate upon his forehead, in place of a hitai-ate. "Oh, shit," he mumbled. He recognized the man's given description at long last. Damn it, he should have known from the beginning!

"Naruto, meet our contact. Jiraiya-sama."

Naruto sighed. "Miss? Mind helping me to my feet? This has been great, but I have to go now." The girl laughed and scooted behind him, hauling him to his feet but hooking her forearms under his armpits. Her body pressed provocatively against his until he was finally erect. (A/N: Yes, that pun was on purpose.)

He trudged out of the water onto the surrounding stone, clutching his back in misery. "Haku," he said through gritted teeth. "Remind me why I called this thing together."

"Survival and the hope to avert war," Haku answered promptly.

Naruto nodded. "Right. So, do me a favor, will you?" He glanced down at the girl still standing in the pool. "It would all be pointless if Hinata kills me when we get home. Keep this to yourself?"

Haku smiled. "Certainly. It will prove useful blackmail in the future."

The blonde's face fell. "You wouldn't dare," he said in a quivering voice that was _quite _unbecoming of one with a roaring engine of destruction two inches behind his belly button.

Haku smiled again. "Try me." He stepped off of the water and onto the stone and glanced down at the girl. "I'm sorry about my friend dropping in on you like this. He tends to do that on occasion."

If looks could kill, Haku would have fallen dead then and there. "Why do I keep you around?" he mumbled as he shook his soaked sleeves, droplets falling in wide fans.

"Because I'm smart, skilled, and can beat you in a fair fight."

Naruto glared once again at Haku. "Just shut up and find me a towel, _bodyguard._"

The girl chuckled. "Are you _really _his bodyguard?" she asked.

Haku sighed and began walking away. "Unfortunately for me, yes," he said. "I seem to be in the valet position as well." He waved a hand over his shoulder. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Hopefully, nobody will assault you between then and now."

Naruto glanced quickly at the still-nude and quite unashamed girl only waist-deep in the steaming water. "Hopefully," he sarcastically agreed. "Um…"

She smiled and stepped out of the water. She was about an inch or so taller than him, average height for her age, though much more slender than the young shinobi. Either she was quite used to baring herself in front of strange people (which could lead to unfortunate implications) or she was quite adaptable. "Don't worry," she said, smiling slyly. "You're safe with me."

Instantly, Naruto's mind went to all of the various places that simple phrase could lead to. _Damn it! Focus! You're a happily-bound boyfriend! Happily! Nonono damn hormones! _Try as he might, there was absolutely no way he could tear his eyes off of this beauty in front of him. "Uh… Yeah." He gulped nervously.

He was saved from further stammering only with the arrival of Kakashi. "Jiraiya-sama?" The silver-haired Jounin appeared at the hole in the wall, staring down at the still-crouching form of the elder giggling man. He turned his one-eyed gaze from him to Naruto and the girl. His eye widened in surprise at the rather-interesting scene.

Naruto held a finger up and pointed it at his sensei. "Not. One. Word. Kakashi."

Kakashi slowly turned his head back to Jiraiya, then Naruto again. "Something tells me… I don't want to know." He casually pulled his book from his bum pouch and handed it to the sage. "Long time no see, Jiraiya-sama," he said.

Jiraiya giggled once more, then put his notepad away. "Hey, Kakashi-kun! How are things going?" He grabbed Kakashi's book, flipped it open, and scribbled his autograph. "So, this is the kid, eh?"

Kakashi accepted his book back and nodded lazily. "Yup. That's him, all right."

_This just keeps getting better and better,_ Naruto thought, groaning mentally. _It just can't get any worse than this._

He realized, too late, that it could.

"What's all the commotion?"

Naruto closed his eyes tightly at the voice of the Hokage from behind him. _Please… please, Kami, let him still have his clothes on._ He slowly turned around to see his leader garbed only in a towel about his waist. "Well," Naruto quipped, "we found Jiraiya."

Sarutobi smirked. "I can see that," he said. "But what are you doing with this lovely young woman?"

Naruto realized that the girl had edged closer to him. With a start, he tried to take a step away, but slipped and fell backwards onto his ass and back. Reflexively, he grabbed her hand, trying to stay upright, only for her to fall down, dragged by his greater weight. She landed full on top of him, her pert chest pressing rather intimately against his own, her legs straddling his hips.

Jiraiya and Sarutobi almost passed out from dual nosebleeds. The more-stoic Kakashi simply lost the ability to control his mouth—even through his mask, it was obvious that his jaw had dropped to its limit.

The girl grunted with the impact of falling onto Naruto, but managed not to hurt herself. "Sorry!" Naruto squeaked, wincing.

Her wet hair had fallen onto his face. Her soft brown eyes were staring down at his. "It's ok," she said. "Just… um… How about you ask me to dinner first? I like aggressive guys, but this is just going a bit too fast too far, don't you think?"

Naruto groaned. _This is not happening. _"I—I'm kinda involved at the moment," he said grudgingly.

She frowned. "Hm." She pushed off of his chest and sat up, putting quite a bit of her weight on Naruto's groin. "That's unfortunate. You're kinda cute." She cupped her chin with a hand. "Although… that other guy was a lot cuter." She shrugged her shoulders, causing interesting things to occur to her anatomy. "I'll go see what he's up to."

Naruto groaned as she stood up, affording him an _extremely _clear view of her nether region. _This is not my day!_

She walked off, and a few moments later, Sarutobi and Jiraiya roused themselves. "Wha… what just happened?" the sage asked dumbly.

Kakashi pointed a limp finger at Naruto in awe. "My new hero," he said. "And your next novel."

* * *

_Back to present_

* * *

"You want quiet, Ero-Sennin? Quit talking about girls and sake!" Naruto barked fearlessly at Jiraiya. "Three vices of shinobi, my ass! You're just one big philandering, perverted lush!"

"Hey! I resent that!" Jiraiya said. "I'm not a pervert! No… No. I'M A MEGAPERV!" He leapt in front of the small group and put his arms in the air in a pose.

Naruto passed him and pushed him down to the ground while he was distracted in his self-revelry. "How Sarutobi-sama dealt with you, I'll never know," he grumbled as Jiraiya stood up indignantly and dusted himself off.

After the old man had quieted down, they managed to travel the rest of the way in relative silence. All at once, they felt the same thing—the presence of a particularly strong cluster of men approaching. From around a bend in the trees, a group of armored and armed samurai in full gear and masks, headed by a squat, powerfully-build man with twin swords on his hip approached.

The sight of the samurai took Naruto's breath away. He'd become fairly adept at gauging people's relative strength by the presence of their chakra. What he felt didn't seem too refined, in the long run, but combined, these men could _tear some shit up._ He forced himself to remember that the Konoha group were on these lands as guests, and were essentially ambassadors to the rest of the assembled nations.

"Welcome to Iron," the gruff man said. "My name is Maoh. This is my personal squad. We are here to act as your escort you to the summit."

Sarutobi nodded respectfully. Hokage he may be, but here, he had no official standing. He was a guest, and knew his place. "Excellent," he said. "Are preparations readied?"

A curt dip of Maoh's head was his answer. "Six jinchūriki and their retinue have come already. At the moment, as far as I know, we are only waiting on the jinchūriki from Kiri and their associates."

"I see. Thank you, Maoh-san. Lead the way."

Not a word or glance was given to the jinchūriki of their party.

_Who does he think he is? _Naruto thought, steaming. _The least they could do is acknowledge my existence! I'm the one who called this meeting together! How dare they ignore me!_

Kakashi must have seen Naruto's expression and interpreted it correctly. He placed a hand on his shoulder and stopped Naruto from advancing along behind Sarutobi and Jiraiya. "Hokage-sama," he said casually. "Can I talk to Naruto alone for a minute? There's something we need to discuss before the summit commences."

Sarutobi frowned. He glanced at Maoh, who was in a similar expression. "We don't have much time, Kakashi-kun. Is it important?"

Kakashi nodded and waved a hand. "Kind of, yeah. We'll be right along, I promise."

Maoh grunted, his thick face scowling. "What can be important enough to risk postponing the gathering?" he barked.

Kakashi eyed the heavyset samurai. "No disrespect, Maoh-san," he said carefully. "But that's between me and my student. I'm here as an advisor; I'd like to do some advising."

Maoh glared at the Copy-Nin, then turned his back on them and went to the samurai troop and spoke for a minute. He turned back to Kakashi and said loudly, "Hurry it up. Four of my men will remain behind to keep an eye on you. They won't listen in, but if you go out of sight, they _will _come after you and bring you in as hostiles. Iron didn't get the luxury of being neutral by being soft, or lax. Under the treaties signed by all villages, you cannot be here unattended."

Kakashi nodded at the man. "I understand," he said gravely. "I will abide by your decisions."

Maoh jerked his head. "Good. Hokage-sama, if you and Jiraiya would come with me…"

Naruto held up a palm at Haku, who had stayed behind with them. "Go on with them, Haku," he said. "We'll catch up."

Haku shook his head. "No, Naruto-san. I am your bodyguard. I cannot leave your side, especially now that we have entered the boundaries of Iron. When you assigned me to you, you got me permanently."

Kakashi eye-smiled. "I like this kid," he said to nobody in general.

Haku nodded and smiled. "Thank you, Kakashi-sempai."

Naruto frowned. "You would," he mumbled. "Now, what's so important? What gives?"

Kakashi crossed his arms, folded one leg over the other, and casually leaned against a snow-dusted tree. "How about you tell me," he said. "You're angry. I can feel it. Why?"

Naruto scowled. "It's nothing," he said. "Just forget it, ok?" He turned to follow after Sarutobi and the others, but Kakashi stepped in front of him.

"Naruto," he said calmly, "I can't help you if you don't open up to me. We're about to go into an extremely high-pressure setting. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the course of the entire continent's history could change with the outcome of this meeting. You can't go in there mad. Anger leads to mistakes, and mistakes could lead to disaster. Just tell me what's wrong."

Naruto bit his bottom lip. He knew that Kakashi was right, as usual; he just didn't want to admit it. "You want to know what's wrong? Ok, I'll tell you. Sarutobi and that Maoh guy ignored me. They acted like I was just another guy with you. _I'm _the one who called all of this together! Me!" He grabbed loose handfuls of his shaggy hair. "But they didn't even say one word to me! It's as if I… I don't know, I wasn't even there!"

Kakashi cocked his visible eye. "That's it?" he asked. "That's why you're mad? Because nobody paid attention to you?"

As soon as he said the words aloud like that, Naruto knew how childish he was acting. For some time now, his ego had been pumping itself up, partly justified, but mostly from his own personal image. Ever since he'd graduated, he had gone through more than he cared to think about, and although it had been tough, he'd survived against enemies that, by all rights, should have obliterated him.

He was the son of the Yondaime Hokage.

He was the bearer of the Inugami mask.

He held in his possession one of the most dangerous caches of weaponry known to man.

His house was practically a living fortress.

He suddenly realized that he was acting like a _spoiled brat._

A blush hit his cheeks. "Sorry, sensei," he mumbled. "I guess I'm just used to the attention by now, you know?"

Kakashi nodded. "The world doesn't revolve around you, Naruto-kun," he said pleasantly. "True, you've been the center of attention for quite some time now, and you've gotten remarkably stronger in such a short time frame… but the fact is, you're going to have to learn one day that there are much, _much _more important things in this world than you getting what you want.

"True, you were ignored. Why? It's simple. At the moment, even though you're the Kyuubi jinchūriki, you are the _least _ranked shinobi traveling with us. Officially, you are a _Genin. _Haku's been giving an acting-Chuunin rank, to be made official once his probation is up. In fact, out of all the other jinchūriki, only one is as young as you are. The next is young Fū-chan, then Utakata from Kiri; the rest are all in their late twenties or older. Effectively, you are the least-experienced of the whole bunch. Maoh is an extremely powerful samurai, and even if you went full-out against him, you would probably lose as you are. That he would ignore you isn't surprising. If he _did _acknowledge you, that would mean he sees you as a potential threat." He sighed and stepped aside. "Naruto, I like you. You're a good boy. You have all the time in the world to earn the respect you deserve. Just try not to let your emotions cloud your judgment in the future, all right?"

Naruto nodded meekly. "Hai, Kakashi-sensei," he mumbled, completely abashed.

Kakashi approached him and ruffled his hair affectionately. "Don't start getting obedient on me now of all times," he said, smiling. "You'll need all the fire you have for the summit."

"Speaking of which," Haku interjected, finally joining the conversation, "those samurai over there are starting to look a little antsy. Perhaps we should get moving?"

"Hn. Yes, yes… let's go." Kakashi signaled to the watchful samurai that they were about got come their way. "Naruto. Are you sure you're ready for this?"

Truthfully, butterflies were fluttering in Naruto's stomach. Nervous? Nervous didn't even begin to describe him. But he put on a strong face and nodded. "I'm ready," he said. "Let's do this."

* * *

_I'm not ready for this! _Naruto screamed at himself. _I am so ridiculously out of my league it's not even funny right now!_

A semicircular table had been set up in a large chamber, evenly spaced with nine wooden chairs without padding. Behind those seats were six tables set up, each with the flag of their village upon them; Konoha, Kiri, Suna, Iwa, Kumo, and Taki were all represented. Save for Kiri and Taki, each of the secondary tables had a Kage, the leaders of the major nations. Taki didn't have the same status as the other villages, though its own military force was not immaterial. Shibuki, a timid-looking youth, sat at the spot designated for his village's leader. His father had recently died, and the extremely anxious look on his face was a startling contrast to the confidence shown by nearly everyone else in the room.

By the time that Naruto and company had joined up with the rest of their group, every one of the major players had arrived and taken their places.

Besides the accompanying advisors and guards, seven of the nine jinchūriki stared at him as he entered the room in front of Kakashi and Haku. Save for Fū, they were all new faces to him.

They sat arranged in order of tail numbers; the youngest of the group (save for him) sat at the end. Sabaku no Gaara, the son of the current Kazekage, host of the Ichibi, glared at him with green, green eyes and followed him as he sat at his assigned place.

Next to him was an older woman—perhaps twenty-five or so—with a Kumo hitai-ate upon her forehead. Unlike any of the other jinchūriki, she wore a standard-for-her-village uniform and flack jacket. She didn't have the same anger in her eyes that the boy beside her seemed to have, though minor irritation was evident.

Next was Yagura… the Sanbi, the Mizukage himself. His left eye had very visible stitching under it, as if he'd recently acquired an injury there. he was emotionless to the extreme. Naruto could read nothing from him. Though even older than Yugito Nii, the Nibi, he looked no older than seventeen or so, the age that he'd taken the Mizukage title.

To offset the youths on either side of him was a gruff-looking middle-aged man in a pink outfit named Rōshi. An unkempt beard surrounded his chin and a strap over his nose. This was, Naruto knew, one of the most powerful of the bunch; not so because of his bijuu, but because of his sheer skill. He was the main obstacle that his father had to overcome during the Third Shinobi World War. After the war had concluded, he had gone into retirement, due to an injury that wouldn't heal right that he'd received from the future Yondaime Hokage. Still, his skill wasn't to be underestimated, nor the probable resentment he would have against the son of his crippler.

An empty seat was beside him, in place for his fallen village-mate, Han. His absence was a stark reminder of why they were here. The table was arranged for the nine jinchūriki, no matter how many were able to attend. Perhaps that was why everyone there was so high-strung—that one of their own, an established bad ass, was not there, and nobody had a clue why.

A boy on the verge of manhood, Utakata, was next. The host of the Rukobi, the six-tailed slug, he was unusually unassuming. The only defining physical characteristic he had was a particularly slim figure and golden eyes that contrasted with his jet-black hair and pale skin. He wore a very loose teal-colored kimono that exposed a good portion of his chest. Like Yagura, he hailed from Kiri, though rumor had it that he and the Mizukage were on no uncertain terms on bad ground with each other. Only the fact that he was a powerful and sneaky shinobi with an extremely unique skillset kept him on solid ground.

Of course, there was Fū after him. Only she had a smile for Naruto when he entered the room and sat down. He had returned it, but the twisting in his gut turned it into more of a grimace than the smile he'd intended.

The largest man at the table, and host to the Hachibi, was right next to him. With his blond hair braided into tight, neat rows and opaque sunglasses, he made an interesting figure.

A middle-aged samurai stood at a podium just outside of the middle of the semicircle. He was heavily mustached and had the look of a man who had seen too much in his time. His eyes were as cold as naked steel, and just as hard. There was no give in his demeanor, none at all. This was a man who could truly stand before living weapons such as the jinchūriki and not flinch.

"Hello," he said after a quick moment. "My name is Mifune. I am the headsman of this nation. Welcome to Iron, each one of you. I understand that many of you have had to travel quite a long way on short notice to be here at the designated time. I trust that your journeys were uneventful.

"You are all gathered here today for something of an historic event; only for the first time since the Shodai Hokage gathered and dispersed the Bijuu to each of your nations are we holding a summit of all living jinchūriki—the Council of Nine." He slowly swept his steely gaze from left to right, eyeing the shinobi before him. "You eight are representatives of your villages and nations. As such, there are certain rules of decorum that you are expected to follow while in my own. First and foremost: Whatever enmities or animosities you may have with any of the other nations here are to be forgotten. You will behave in a manner befitting those of your status. There are to be _no _signs of hostility from _any _of you. At the first sign of an aggressive move, five squads of my most skilled samurai will descend upon you and do their best to strike you down.

"Secondly: We are here under a flag of truce. No matter what is said here, taking any ill will with you and acting upon it will not be tolerated. The discussions here are to be kept in confidence, and _not _as grounds for hostilities.

"Thirdly: Disrespect from any of you will not be tolerated. Past conflict and differences in opinion, unless pertinent to the discussion, are not to be brought up.

"These rules apply to all present, jinchūriki, Kage, and advisors alike. Unless directly addressed, I would prefer for those accompanying their village's jinchūriki to stay their tongue unless absolutely necessary." The samurai again looked around the room, seemingly looking every man and woman in the eye one by one. "As you may know, it was a controversy at the _last _Council of Nine that helped fuel the flames of the Second Shinobi World War. I will not allow such as that to happen again. These rules _will _be enforced as I see fit. Is that understood?"

Many heads in the room, including most of the jinchūriki, nodded curtly toward the samurai in charge. Naruto noticed, however, that many of the people, especially those at the Kumo and Kiri tables, didn't seem to thrilled at the fact of their presence.

"Good," barked Mifune. "This summit has been called by one Uzumaki Naruto, of Konohagakure, the jinchūriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. As such, he has the first word in address to you all." Mifune jerked his head at Naruto and backed away from the podium to sit in a rather uncomfortable-looking chair several feet behind him. Taking that as his cue, Naruto slowly stood up and walked the short distance and took his place before his brethren.

Twenty-seven pairs of eyes bore into him as he stood there for a moment, collecting his thoughts. For two solid weeks, he'd been preparing his opening words for these people, most of whom were complete strangers, people that he'd never met in his lifetime. What could he possibly say to them to impress upon them the dire situation they had unknowingly found themselves in?

_What?_

He decided the direct approach would be best. He inhaled deeply, gripped the podium tightly in clinched fists, and spoke.

"Greetings," he said. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I am the host of the Kyuubi. Like you, I've had it pretty hard for as long as I can remember. I've been looked down on, taken advantage of, and treated like nothing more than a tool. Since the day I was born, I've carried a weight on my shoulders that, by rights, I shouldn't have to… that _nobody _should have to. I can see it in some of your eyes, you know what I am talking about.

"But the tradeoff for that hardship is power. We jinchūriki, we living, human tools, we represent the balance of power in the shinobi world. It is our very existence that tips the scales in these world wars we are sometimes forced to fight." Suddenly, he had the undivided attention of every soul in the room.

"But as strong as we are, we are not invincible. We can be beaten, and we can die. Just like any other warrior, we too have expiration dates. We don't know when, we don't know how, and sometimes, we don't know _why. _But it happens. All too easily, it happens.

"My fellow jinchūriki… I say this because it's the truth. Eventually, we'll all die." He glanced at Fū for a second, and she sent him a subtle nod of encouragement. "Just under three weeks ago, it almost happened to me, and to the host of the Nanabi. As unbelievable as it sounds… someone is hunting the bijuu. And they have ways of taking them by force."

Instantly, there was a crash of sound as the vast majority of the men and women behind the jinchūriki's table began yelling out loud. Save for the representatives of Konoha who had already known what Naruto was going to say (for the most part), this had caught each and every one of them by surprise. Panic was on several faces as tables beside each other exchanged verbal barbs at one another. Strangely, only the jinchūriki present kept their words to themselves, though save for Fū, glared at Naruto quizzically.

It wasn't until the old Tsuchikage had hopped onto his table and began pointing at the Raikage that a rather loud boom resonated from behind Naruto.

The room fell silent as Mifune glared at the assembly. The stone beneath his right foot was cracked, spiderwebbing out several feet from its epicenter. He glared at the men and women until they slowly returned to their seats.

"If I didn't make myself clear the first time," he said, obviously pushing himself to keep calm, "I humbly apologize. The fault is mine. Let me reiterate and slightly amend my previous words: unless _directly _addressed by myself, one of the jinchūriki called to council, or the acknowledge speaker, I ask that you remain quiet. First and foremost, this is a gathering of the jinchūriki themselves; I can have them remain and ask you to leave, and any decision they come to will be held as _law. _If you wish to stay and have a say in their talks, abide by the simple rules that I have set forth." He turned to face Naruto. "Uzumaki-san. These are bold statements you make. Explain yourself."

Naruto bowed curtly. This was a man who could cow a roomful of some of the most powerful people in the world. He would obey his every word. "Hai, Mifune-sama." He took his place back at the podium, though Mifune remained standing just behind him. "As I was saying." He cleared his throat nervously—speaking in front of all of these world leaders was more difficult than he had thought it would be. "I have strong evidence that there is a group formed dedicated to the capture of the nine bijuu. I have firsthand experience with them, as does one more of our number… Kazeto Fū, the jinchūriki of the Nanabi."

"What evidence?" All eyes turned to the Mizukage, Yagura, at his short words. "What evidence do you have to present that we are hunted?"

"I have firsthand experience with these people," Naruto answered. "A little under three weeks ago, I was training on Fire country's southern coast to master the Kyuubi's power. Although largely unsuccessful, I'll admit, it wasn't time wasted. If I may, Mifune-sama, I'll ask Fū to take the stage and give her own account of the incident."

With the samurai's permission, Fū stood and joined Naruto. In short summation, she described what had happened that day, from her encounter with Sasori and Deidara to her capture, all the way to her rescue by Naruto, Hinata, and Araki.

The mention of the monk's name made several of the shinobi from Iwa and Kumo stir; that wasn't a name likely to be forgotten any time soon, it would appear.

"You fought Deidara-kun?" Rōshi barked.

Naruto nodded. "I did. I won't say I won, though. If anything, the best I can admit to was a draw. I was able to hold him off for a little while, though he managed to keep me under too much cover to mount an effective offense. I don't know what happened to him afterward, though it's safe to assume that he returned to his group's base in River, where he said that they were stationed and waiting for the Nanabi."

"Is that a fact?" Rōshi asked solemnly. "I had wondered where that boy had gotten to."

"And this Hyuuga girl—she fought Sasori?" Yugito, the Nibi host, added.

"Yes. She, same as I, was unable to defeat her opponent. If it hadn't been for Araki's arrival, she would be dead and gone."

"And he's dead."

"Yes. Undeniably dead."

Yugito balled her hands into fists. "Damn," she muttered. "I wanted a crack at him. He killed my mom before the last war… I promised I'd have my revenge one of these days." She glanced into Naruto's eyes. "When you next see Araki-san, give him my thanks, if you would."

"Consider it done."

The Raikage signaled to Naruto, who nodded at the man. "What solid evidence besides this encounter do you have that this is actually a larger group?" he asked.

Naruto sighed slightly. "While fighting Deidara, he mentioned several others in his group. One, through some research of my own, I now know is Hoshigaki Kisame, formerly of Kiri. The other is none other than Uchiha Itachi."

"Kisame-sempai?" Utakata asked. "Are you sure that he's the one you speak of?"

"Yes. Unless you know some other shinobi strong enough to go head to head with a jinchūriki named Kisame, I am confident that he'd with them. Just before he tried to finish me off, Deidara told me that if he was fighting Kisame, he'd stay the hell away from sources of water. That Hoshigaki Kisame is with them is almost a certainty."

The advisors from Kiri's visibly squirmed; the sheer amount of shinobi that had abandoned their village was something of an embarrassment as of late. In fact, four of the last generation of Seven Swordsmen had gone missing-nin, taking their swords with them; of the remaining three, two had had their weapons stolen in battle. Only one was left in their possession, dealing a severe psychological blow to their armed forces.

"This is troubling news," Yagura muttered. "If Kisame is allied with a group of this level of skill, that must mean that they have considerable clout to assure his loyalty."

Naruto nodded. "That is what I suspect. Their numbers are unknown, as are their overall goals. I believe that they were only set up in River territory as a temporary stop to deal with Fū and the Nanabi. We can search there, though I doubt there would be any trace of their presence remaining, especially once Deidara relayed to them our fight."

"Hn." Naruto turned to the Tsuchikage, who nodded his grudging permission to speak, and nodded.

"Why gather us here, brat? Couldn't this information simply be sent by trusted courier? Why go through all of the trouble to bring us all to one place simply for a conference?"

Naruto frowned at the wizened old man. "For several reasons_, _Tsuchikage-sama," he said slowly. "First of all, there is no guarantee that paths of communication could be safeguarded. As far away as our respective villages are, ensuring a line of communication on the fly is a crap shoot at the very best. Now that this group knows that two living jinchūriki have escaped, it can safely be assumed that they're going to step up their operation in terms of scale and audacity. By sending in only two men to capture the bijuu, they ensure that their missions can go largely unnoticed. Tell me, where was Han when he was reported missing? What kind of mission was he on?"

The Tsuchikage glowered. "That is no business of yours!" he snapped.

Naruto closed his eyes and slowly counted to five. "If you think I'm interested in your troop movements, or some other secrets you have, forget it," he said. "I don't give a shit about that kind of stuff. All I want to know is where he was going and why!"

"Answer him, Tsuchikage," Mifune said from behind Naruto.

The old man glared at the samurai and Naruto simultaneously. He looked as if he was seriously debating the pros and cons of smashing them in then and there. Finally, he said "Han had been personally requested to escort sensitive equipment to a laboratory we have in the south-west mountains of Earth country. It seems that, upon his return, he was ambushed by this shadowy organization."

Naruto cupped his chin in thought. "Interesting…" he mumbled. He looked up at the seventh seat at the table. "Fū… tell me again what you were doing when you were captured."

"I was… I was returning to Taki after completing a… mission…" Her eyes widened in realization. "Oh, no, Naruto. You can't be serious."

"I am. It seems too convenient that on two separate occasions, so close to each other in time, the jinchūriki sent had been ambushed on return. People, we have a problem: Chances are, there are moles from these people in our midst."

Those chilling words caused more than a few Adam's apples to jump.

"Preposterous!" barked the Kazekage. "Our administrative shinobi are screened extremely thoroughly!"

"Perhaps not thoroughly enough," Naruto shot back. "Kazekage-sama, I have heard that Sasori was so effective in his genjutsu that he could have a sleeper agent in place for _years _without them being aware of the fact. Is this true?"

The leader of Suna frowned under his face mask and glanced at the old woman beside him. She closed her eyes and nodded slowly. "That is true," she croaked. "Sasori-kun did indeed have that skill." Her eyes opened ominously. "Looking back on it… it is obvious. In truth, it was a smart move of his. Who knows how long he has been manipulating our village…"

The Hokage stood up. Every eye in the room turned to him; save for the Tsuchikage himself, he was the eldest village leader, and certainly the longest-running to hold the "Kage" title. Love him or hate him, all had at least a grudging respect for him. "If I may, Mifune-dono," he said. "If any of this is true, then we have much more to be concerned with than we may think. If a small terrorist group truly can infiltrate every village that has a jinchūriki, which is what is being suggested here, it is possible that they have more resources than we may think."

"If that is indeed the case," the Kazekage said, "then we only have one course of action: find these people, these cloaked mercenaries, and crush them."

Heads around the room nodded. In truth, Naruto agreed whole-heartedly with the man, but there were other issues at hand. "That may be true, Kazekage-sama," he said. "But we have other concerns to think about before we take offensive action. First, it would be good to know their end goals. What are their intentions with the bijuu? Do they mean to weaponize them somehow, or simply store them?

"Also, how many people are with them? Four members have been confirmed, along with one mysterious 'leader-sama' that I heard them talking about before the fight. I cannot for the life of me think that this group numbers less than ten or twelve, perhaps more. In all likelihood, for them to have a goal as ambitious as the recovery of the nine bijuu, each and every one of their top-tier shinobi are S-ranked missing-nin." He looked around at the assembled jinchūriki. "I don't have to tell you this, but I am: we eight are some of the most potent tools of war in the world. But that doesn't mean that we can't be taken down. We must exercise extreme caution in the future. Now that they know that _we _know, there's no telling how bold they may be in their actions against us."

"What do you suggest?" Utakata asked evenly. "That we hide in some hole behind bodyguards? That we seclude ourselves away and cower?"

"Hachibi-sama ain't feelin that drama, yo!" Kirābī rapped, crossing his arms in front of him and making nonsensical hand signs. "Runnin and hidin instead o' fightin? Helllll nah!"

Yugito facepalmed. "Shut up, Bee!" she shouted at her Kumo brethren. "But I agree with him, Uzumaki-san. There's no chance of us locking ourselves up at home simply so we can be kept safe. We're all fighters, and we know the risks involved."

"Hai. I wasn't really relying on that solution anyway. But there _are _a couple other options we have, though they may not be any easier to deal with than seclusion is."

"And those would be?" the Mizukage, Yagura, asked pointedly.

Naruto looked at the young-looking Kage. "Option two," he said, holding up two fingers. "We walk away from here and pretend that this never happened. We pretend that the petty arguments and fights and rivalries from the past generations still mean a goddamned thing. We act as if our fathers' wars and grandfathers' wars are our own to fight." He calmly put his hands on the podium and leaned forward. "When one village sends a message for aid to another, just like _always, _they will be ignored, no matter how strong the alliance. We keep this abominable status quo that has been destroying us for generations.

"If ever we meet on the battlefield, if ever whoever's in charge tells us to kill one another, we forget these words, this time together, as little as it's actually worth. We just unleash all of our rage and fury and go for blood like the _tools they think we are!_" Naruto roared those last words with all of the pent-up frustration in his being. "Or…" he whispered. "Or… we can begin anew. A new dawn of our world, an entirely new generation of shinobi could remember _this day _as the day the world stopped on its axis and paid attention!

"If we eight band together—without reservation, without all of the hate and problems from the last generation! No—Stop." He held a palm up, halting in their tracks the Raikage, Tsuchikage, and Kazekage. "You know the rules: _No _speaking out of turn. This is the 'Council of Nine', not the Gokage Summit. This is _our _time on _our _terms. Mifune-sama?"

Naruto turned to see the samurai glowering at him. "Loath as I am to act as enforcer," he said, "what he speaks is the truth. It seem as if he would prefer to keep this portion of the discussions among them." He looked around at the gathered jinchūriki, most of whom were now showing much more intense interest. "Objections?"

Rōshi grinned. "Not from me," the stocky man said. "I kinda like where this is going. You got balls, kid."

"Thanks," Naruto said with a small smile. "As I was saying… Option three. It's as simple as we can possibly make it: our villages enter into a temporary alliance until this shit is good and done with. Without us, the very balance of power in our bloody trade shifts." He glanced at the third in position on the table. "Mizukage-sama, I know that I'm addressing you fairly familiarly, and I apologize. But I know that you have to empathize with me on some of this. We need to stand together, or fall apart. I need to know if you're with me on this."

Yagura stared at Naruto for a moment. The blond held his breath as the Mizukage evaluated him. "I will listen to your words," he said monotonously. "They seem interesting. But I make no promises. Your desire to incite some rebellion in the ranks is refreshing, especially for one so young… but I have my own considerations to take into account."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Haku stiffen in his seat. It seemed that every word the Mizukage spoke only rose the hackles of the ice-using shinobi. He ignored his bodyguard for the moment, however; this was bigger than any one of them. "Thank you, Mizukage-sama," Naruto said. "That's as much as I can reasonably expect." _Don't do anything stupid, Haku, _he pleaded silently.

"What kind of a fight are you expecting?" the host of the Shukaku asked as monotonously as the Mizukage. "Do you believe it would be a full-scale assault?"

"And when will it be?" Rōshi added. "What kind of time frame are we supposed to run on?"

Naruto nodded at them. "Valid questions," he said. "The answer to all of those questions, unfortunately, is… I don't know. We are facing a fighting force the likes of which none of us have ever seen before. They have the strength to take us against our will and, if they're doing what I think they're doing, have the ability to rip the demons from us. Ideally, we'd have to outnumber them two to one at a time to be assured of destroying them."

"Two to one?" Yugito scoffed. "You can't be serious! Granted, they might be good enough to _ambush _us, and two of them against any one of us _could _wear us out, but it's kind of excessive to expect us to pick at them like that!"

Naruto crossed his arms and closed his eyes as he thought for a moment. "Tsuchikage-sama," he said suddenly. "This Deidara guy. Tell me about him. Comparatively, how strong was he, really?"

The old man wrinkled his eyes. "He was strong," he answered grudgingly. "Very strong."

"_Exceedingly," _Rōshi added, much to his leader's ire. "One of the strongest kids we've had in years. Ain't no way around it, he's good. Before he left, there was some serious talk of him succeeding the old fart in a few years."

_That _raised some eyebrows.

"And that's exactly why I think we should have numbers and a good strategy on our side before we begin our assault on these people," Naruto said. "People, we can't afford to dick around on this one. At the very least, we are fighting Kage-class shinobi. Three of the most fearsome men in the world are against us. Deidara. Kisame. Itachi." He pounded a fist into the wood before him resolutely. "These names strike fear into hearts far and wide! As strong as we all are, we cannot afford to take unnecessary risks! I know this is unconventional, I know this may not work! Hell, I know this may end up with us all dead!

"But I'm ready for it! I'm ready to die, and I know damn well so are all of you! I don't _want _to die, but that's a part of being _what we are._" He paused for a breath. "When this is all over," he said softly, "when we've put this threat behind us, when at least the danger of some psychopath having all of the demons is gone… we can go back to the plots. We can go back to the casual murder. Sure. Great. Come after my head, if you want. Hell, if it'll keep my village safe, I'll have it served up on a silver platter.

"I'm asking you this, not as a soldier, not as a ninja, not even as an ambassador. I'm asking this as one of you—a jinchūriki, one who's not had much of a chance at life." He looked over his shoulder at Mifune. "By your leave," he said to the samurai, "I'll leave this here. This is a big decision, and each and every one of us should take time to discuss with our council. I request that we reconvene tomorrow for our answers."

Mifune nodded. "Agreed," he said. "Having heard what's been said, that would be a wise choice of action. We will recess until nine o'clock tomorrow morning. Then, the jinchūriki will vote on a course of action to take. Village leaders, I will inform you that whichever way the eight jinchūriki vote is an official tally for your village, and is quite binding. Should the vote be unanimous, then an alliance the likes of which the world has never before seen will be born unto this world.

"Ladies and gentlemen… Dismissed."

* * *

_Elsewhere…_

* * *

A solitary figure stood in the darkness of a cave, quite a way distant from its gaping maw of a mouth. This far in, the light barely made a dent in the oppressive gloom… not that he _minded, _of course.

After all, many snakes _thrived _in the darkness.

He hated the fact that he was coerced into this kind of place in the first place; how he had been found out, he had no idea. But here he was… no going back now. That he would only be found again and again was a given; that he had been located the first time was neigh-unbelievable in the first place.

He sense movement deeper into the cave, but he worried not. He was quite familiar with this man—if you could _call _him a man. "Pain."

"Orochimaru."

The Sannin chuckled and shook his head as he pushed off from the wall casually. "It's been a while, hasn't it?" he said, very slowly moving laterally around the red-haired man. "How has Madara's most favorite lapdog been since I took my leave?"

The man named pain looked evenly at the snake man unflinchingly. "There is a job that requires your unique skills and resources. You will participate."

Orochimaru smiled in a way that would make weak men piss themselves in fear. "Oh, no witty banter? No pleasantries? Straight on to business? Such a shame, Nagato… you used to be so much _fun_."

Pain tolerated the fool… barely. "I doubt it."

Orochimaru sighed and hung his head, his long black hair falling over his face. "Killjoy. Let's assume for a minute that I was interested in helping you… what would be in it for me? What could you have that would interest _me_?"

Pain considered the Sannin solemly for a moment. "Amnesty."

Orochimaru's eyes shot up. "What?"

Pain took a few steps toward Orochimaru, who involuntarily tensed. Flippant though he was, he couldn't underestimate this man. "We had orders to kill you on sight. All of us. And most of us could make it happen. You aren't special, as much as you over-inflated ego may tell you. You are simply another over-powered thug."

"Interesting… considering you call yourself _God, _you have no room to speak to me of ego!" Orochimaru ground his teeth together in ire. "Amnesty… No. I've done just fine on my own." He turned away from Pain and began walking toward the mouth of the cave. "Although it would be fun if you decided I was a big enough threat one day… Kukuku…"

Pain looked at his retreating figure for a moment before speaking. "Perhaps the job would be of interest to you on a personal level."

Orochimaru stopped. "This job." He turned his head to glare at Pain. "What is it?"

"The Kyuubi jinchūriki called the Council of Nine together. We are going after them all at once. That's why we need your army to serve as a distraction. Your Edo Tensei will serve well as well."

"The Edo Tensei? The Nidaime Hokage's technique?" He shook his head. "No. No. I've been saving that technique for a special occasion. I will not allow it to be sullied with this level of ambush. And besides, the land of Iron would be a difficult target. How do you know you will succeed?"

"Because we will. Your assistance isn't critical. But you would make it much easier on us all."

"You still haven't convinced me," Orochimaru sneered.

He only managed one step before Pain said "Both of our sensei will be there."

Orochimaru froze in his tracks, stunned. "Both our…" He flickered away, appearing in front of Pain, inches away. "_Both _of them? Are you sure?"

Pain remained motionless. "The Toad Sage of Myoboku, Jiraiya, will be in attendance. He will be accompanying Sarutobi, Kakashi, and a youth from the Miki clan."

Orochimaru's lips parted in surprise. The two men he most wanted to kill in the world… One of the only accessible Sharingan remaining… and a member of a clan long thought dead… this was tempting bait indeed. "This sounds too good to be true," he snarled. "What's the catch?"

Pain actually smiled faintly. "It's simple. You follow orders to the letter. No deviation. At the conclusion of the operation, you can have your revenge upon Sarutobi and your test subjects. Akatsuki will ignore you actions as long as they don't directly interfere with our own. Agreed?"

Orochimaru's eyed darted left and right as he thought quickly, mentally weighing the pros and cons. "Perhaps," he hissed. "When is this to happen?"

"Now."

Orochimaru's eyes sprang open. "You couldn't give me more notice than this?" he yelled. "It's impossible! I'd have to mobilize my troops, spread the intel, prepare the Edo Tensei seal arrays—"

"It's all already been taken care of," Pain interrupted. "Zetsu is even now rummaging through your personal store and transporting everything you need to the launching point."

Orochimaru was, without a doubt, _furious. _"I should kill you for your impertinence!" he shrieked.

Pain eyed him coldly. "If you could have, you would have long ago. Isn't that why you targeted young Itachi? Because he was the weaker of us two? Don't make me laugh, Orochimaru. Your army is on its way. Even one as specialized as Zetsu can pull off a passable henge and fool your lackeys."

"And if I had refused?" he hissed.

"Then they would have been obliterated, either by Iron or Akatsuki, and your power base would be reduced to nothing at all. Do not forget, it was us who gave you a large amount of the power you have in payment for your original participation. That you absconded with it does not sit easy with us."

"You _bastard._"

Pain turned away to walk back into the darkness. "If name calling alleviates your ire, you are welcome to it. I am above such petty things." He stopped, as if remembering something. "Before I forget, there is one more thing: you have been assigned a partner for the duration of this exercise. You are to work in tandem throughout and you _are _to follow his orders. He has full permission to finish what he started three years ago, and I doubt that he'll stay his hand this time."

Silent horror hit Orochimaru like a sack of bricks. "No… No, you cannot be serious! Surely!"

Pain allowed himself a grim smirk. "I am serious. And Orochimaru? He has only gotten stronger since. He is perhaps even as strong as I. Do not try anything."

Orochimaru's killing intent on the Rinnegan puppet's back was totally ineffective as he slipped into the deeper shadows further in. _Itachi… I will kill you and take your eyes the instant your back is turned! And when I do, not even Madara will be able to stop me! _Already plotting the betrayal sure to come, he nodded curtly and turned away from Pain. "Don't tempt me," he growled.

"Zetsu will contact you within the hour. Do not be late." Pain vanished so quickly, Orochimaru could not trace his chakra.

"Damn him," he said softly. "Damn Akatsuki. Soon enough I will be rid of that nuisance once and for all. Perhaps I will be able to obtain the Rinnegan as well one day…" He left the cave and stepped into the light.

The next twenty-four hours would be extremely busy. He had to prepare.

* * *

A/N: **_MOMMY._**

Good god, I'm a real bastard with these cliffhangers! Why do I do this? Why?

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I had a _lot _of fun writing the first half. You can probably tell why… Heh heh. I know I said this before, but I really enjoy being a bastard to my characters, _especially _Naruto-kun!

This is turning out to be quite interesting. Without tooting my own horn too much, I'm not sure anybody's done anything quite like this before, and if they have… well, I'm going to be putting my own spin on things. It's confirmed: the next three chapters will be almost nothing but in-your-face action. Oh, yeah, it's gonna be good. I can taste it.

That's about all I got to say… Adieu, adieu, to you and you and you.

~ dead witch


	33. Council of Nine Part 2

A/N: Huzzah! Good news and bad news: Good news, of course, is that I'm here! Ok now that that's outta the way, the bad news: I'm still working on that Fū/Haku lemon. It's mostly done, but I wanted to write and post this while it was fresh in my mind. Been up all night, done about five thousand words since about 9 Saturday night… it's half past ten Sunday morning. Wooooo.

Brain almost dead.

Review Answer Time©

**Towards the sun: Oh, don't worry, Orochimaru won't be underestimated. He'll get his moments.**

**Falcoln777: Thanks for your reviews! Now catch up!**

**Silver Warrior: You are in for one hell of a treat, buddy. I mean, damn. This is going to be good. As for your questions… Just read. You'll find out soon enough :P All I can say without early spoilers is, Be ready for some fun.**

**Dragon Man 180: Read it, going a completely different direction. Thanks, though!**

**IfOnlyIf: Meh, humor is hit-and-miss sometimes. Guess I just missed with you. Hope this chapter is better than the other ones for your taste.**

**Hiei81: Team 7 magic is a while to go, unfortunately, but it'll get there.**

**Danvo5: Thanks! Sorry about the evil cliffies, that's just how my brain works. I write and I write until I get to a really good part, then, I… stop. It's like that "The Sopranos" copout where they ended the episode right where**

**Twilight- The Moon Spirit: Don't be scared! I know full well that Itachi has never, **_**ever **_**fought at full power while onscreen. Even against Gai, Asuma, Kakashi, and Kurenai, he was dicking around. Bad. ASS. But you just MIGHT see him go all-out eventually… Guess who he fights? I ain't spoiling the surprise!**

**Shrumples: Haku? Crazy? No, perish the thought.**

Posting now. Read and review!

* * *

**Chapter 33**

"I've got a baaad feeling about this," Naruto muttered to himself as he, Sarutobi, Kakashi, Haku, and Jiraiya were escorted by several samurai down a wide hallway toward the conference room that the jinchūriki had met the day before. "I've got a really bad case of the willies for some reason."

"Relax, gaki," Jiraiya muttered. He was to the left and behind Naruto. Kakashi was to his right, and Sarutobi and Haku took the front positions in the honor guard formation. "There's nothing to be nervous about."

Naruto glared over his shoulder. "That's easy for you to say, perv. You're not in the spotlight right now."

The Sannin chuckled. "How many times do I have to tell you? I'm not a perv… I'm a—"

Sarutobi glared at his former pupil, silencing him. "Not now, Jiraiya," he chastised. "We have not time for your antics. This is a critical point for us. We do not need you muddling up the proceedings by acting like a fool."

Jiraiya stopped his impending pose mid-thrust, then hunched his shoulders in a sulk. "You never let me have any fun," he sulked comically.

"I let you have thirteen years off to go chase skirt and drink your ass off!" Sarutobi shot back, a small smile upon his face.

"And write," Kakashi added. "He did a lot of that, don't forget."

Sarutobi considered that. True, Jiraiya's works _had _given him countless hours' worth of entertainment over the years… and he'd received autographed proofs of each of his books… and had been an _editor _for several of them… and had had the second and seventh dedicated to him…

"He's got you there, old man!" Naruto chuckled, correctly interpreting Sarutobi's glazed expression. "I know all about your and Kakashi's shared addiction, don't forget!"

The Hokage glowered at the jinchūriki. "Quiet, brat," he snapped, though Naruto didn't take him seriously in the least.

The rest of the short walk was made in silence. Somber echoes of their footfalls on the cold stone floors pinged against their ears a dozen times a second, until the rough tattoo of boot and shoe on surface became comfortable background noise that seemed somehow missing when they stopped at the door that lead to the conference room. Without prompt, the doors opened outward from them from inside. They stepped in and took the same seats reserved for them from the day before.

Surprisingly, save for the Suna and Taki parties, they were the first there. Not even Mifune or any other samurai were present. Naruto glanced over at Fū and smiled. She returned it, though when she met Haku's eyes, something more than a simple smile crossed her face.

Naruto looked sidelong at his bodyguard. "Haku," he mumbled under his breath. "When you disappeared last night… did you and Fū…?"

Haku's expression stayed neutral. "I have no idea what you can possibly be referring to, Naruto-san," he said evenly.

Naruto simply grinned as his honor guard took their seats while he sat down at the right end of the semicircular table reserved for the jinchūriki. He had taught Haku well!

He settled himself and studied the other hosts as the rest filed into the room. From what he knew, pretty much every one of them were related to a Kage, save for Fū, who was Shibuki's cousin. In their own informal way, they were all royalty of some kind, for in the shinobi world, the Kage were kings.

In the one called Gaara, he noted the surly expression and barely-contained bloodlust the permanently fell from him. It seemed that the seal that contained the Ichibi was weaker than it should have been—from what intelligence he'd read on the boy before coming to the meeting, his father had tried to have him killed more times than he could believe. To say that he was a tad unstable would be an understatement. When it came right down to it, he had no idea where he stood in the idea of an alliance.

As for Yugito, host of the Nibi, he didn't know that much, to be honest. She gave the impression of a woman who was essentially no-nonsense, competent, and dedicated. She took her job seriously and was extremely loyal to her people. He'd read how, when she was only fourteen, she had already become a Jounin in Kumo and lead squads in the last world war. She was one of the smarter shinobi they had, and would be a very valuable ally beside him, and a dangerous foe on the other side of the line. If she sided with him, he would take it as a good sign.

He literally couldn't get a read on Yagura. The Mizukage just didn't let any physical clues escape, and there was precious little intel on the man. In the time that he'd been Mizukage, he had almost never left his village, preferring to stay inside Kiri borders. From there, he'd proceeded with the "cleansing" as some called it, "genocide," others. As controversial as his views and actions were, he was in charge, and as long as he didn't go past the limits of his authority, there wasn't anything anyone could do to reign him in. As one of the only people in history to have complete control of his bijuu, there was a real chance that he was the strongest of them all.

Rōshi was quite a bit easier to read. He was the oldest of the eight in a profession that had quite a low survival rate. Though gruff-looking, he had an easy smile, probably because he could afford to be affable. Taking his the older man's easy acceptance of his speech the day before, he thought there was a good chance of gaining him as an ally.

Utakata, though not quite as stoic as the Mizukage, still managed to keep his emotions and outward opinions to himself. Like Yagura, little was actually known about him. What scant bits of information that had come Konoha's way indicated that he had nearly as much control over his bijuu as Yagura, and on at least one occasion had fully physically transformed into the six-tailed slug form. In sheer ability, like pretty much everyone else here, he outstripped Naruto in skill and power. That, on top of his total experience, probably put him at or near Kage level himself. If it came to a vote, there was no way of predicting where he would cast his lot.

Fū was a known quantity. She felt that she owed quite a bit to the host of the Kyuubi, although in reality Naruto felt as if she had cleared that debt by digging them out from under those tons of earth back when he saved her from Deidara and Sasori. Nevertheless, he was sure that she would side with him. In her, at least, he had a solid ally.

Kirābī was an interesting case. As the second-oldest of the bunch, about seven years younger than Rōshi, he'd had one of the longest careers of any of the past couple generations of jinchūriki. Like the Mizukage, he had managed complete control of his bijuu, and it was said that even without resorting to his demonic abilities he was on par with his brother the Raikage. The seven short swords strapped to his back indicated a mastery of a bazaar kenjutsu style, probably one he'd invented. Though not a natural-born talent, he was regarded as one of the strongest men in the world. If any one man among them could hold his own against the people after them and come out on top, Naruto would put his money on him. Where his vote would go was up in the air.

Mifune entered the room from a side entrance, interrupting his musings. Once all the jinchūriki and advisors had settled in, he once again took the podium and gazed around the room. Since the day before, it looked as if a great weight had been placed on his shoulders and his expression echoed that strain. Stress lined his eyes and cheeks, worry plainly evident. He had had much to think about in the nearly-twenty-four hours since the meeting the previous day, and it was quite possible that the direction of the whole continent's history rested on him. Yes, it was a burden he had been prepared for since the day he took the reins of the military state of Iron… but no amount of preparation could adequately ready one for this kind of influence. This conference already had put him on edge; the added stress would eventually irritate his ulcers.

"Welcome back," he barked. "I trust that your accommodations met your approval. Since we last spoke, you have had much to think on." He slowly looked at the jinchūriki one-by-one. "I have, as well. We stand at a crossroad in history unlike any seen since the formation of the hidden village system over eighty years ago. The results of today's negotiations could very well equal that day in infamy.

"As per my duties, I have decided that the two courses of action proposed by Uzumaki Naruto, jinchūriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, to be the logical paths to vote upon. Simply put, you eight must today decide whether to continue on independently with your respective villages to deal with this group on a case-by-case basis, or band together to take them on.

"I presume that there was discussion in the intervening time to come to your individual conclusions. But I must inform you, should any of you vote no, you are not assured of receiving assistance in the future. Those who vote to ally themselves with one another will act as a single large cell, under command of one of your own."

"And who'll lead this cell?" Yugito asked. She glanced over at Naruto. "Surely not the kid? He's too young, too inexperienced. Though his demon's the strongest, I'm pretty sure there isn't a one of us, except for maybe Gaara-san, who couldn't mop the floor with him."

Naruto blinked at her. "Wait a minute… what makes you think I _want _to lead something like this?" He crossed his hands in an "X" in front of his face. "Uh-uh. No way. I can barely lead myself out of bed in the morning. The last time I tried to take command, my best friend almost died. I'll tell ya here and now, Yugito-san, I'll be happy just following orders." He frowned and put his hands down. "But that does bring up a good point; If we actually go through with this and fight as a cell, who _would _be in charge?" He glanced over at Mifune. "And who would be giving the orders from up top?"

Mifune grunted. "For the duration of this threat," he said, "those who vote to band together will act as an independent fighting force apart from the politics and ties of the villages. Leadership will be decided amongst yourselves, as will operations and coordination. In the case of Kumo and Kiri, villages with two jinchūriki, should one vote to join this operation and one not to, there will be no animosity. But do not forget, you will be outside the loop. Mizukage-sama, if you decide to abstain, and Utakata joins, he is to receive full cooperation from your village's administration. Is that clear?"

Yagura simply glared at Mifune dully and nodded curtly. Naruto had a bad feeling he knew where the Kage's vote was going to go.

"Good. Now… the time has come to vote. I need not remind you how important this is. Think hard about your decision." He looked to his left. "Gaara-san, Ichibi jinchūriki. Where do you stand?"

The red-headed youth slowly stood up, his emerald eyes almost shining. "This sounds interesting," he said in a monotone. "I have been looking for strong people to kill. Perhaps I'll find someone worthwhile to feed to my sand. Against my father's wishes, I vote to join." Mifune nodded at him, and he sat down and crossed his arms. Behind him, the Kazekage glowered at his son.

"Yugito-san, Nibi jinchūriki. What is your vote?"

The woman stood, a tad bit more eagerly than Gaara. "My personal choice, I'll have to admit, is a bit conflicted. On the one hand, I know having assassins come after me while alone is a distinct possibility. If one as strong as Fū-chan or Han-san can be apprehended so easily, then it would make sense for us to band together, if only as a temporary solution. But safety in numbers doesn't necessarily mean anything in this scenario. If there are as many people as you think in this organization, and you believe that our only hope of defeating them is have at least a two-to-one advantage against them, tell me, Uzumaki-san—what exactly is it that you hope to accomplish with this maneuver?"

Naruto frowned and drummed his right fingers on the tabletop. "My goal," he said, "is to have us working as a cohesive force. Besides strength in numbers, I believe that us, some of the most powerful shinobi in our village, could do what we could not when paired with others of our villages." A glint came to his eye. "Tell me, Yugito-san. Have you ever performed a chakra blast while transformed?"

She nodded. "I have," she said cautiously.

"And while transformed, didn't you ever worry about your teammates' safety? With a technique as destructive as that, there's no telling what could happen, or what collateral damage could occur… right? My point is, with us, there's no need to worry. I'm pretty sure we all at least partially specialize in extremely destructive jutsu that we can't properly manage with others to worry about. But we can coordinate our plans to work around that." He grinned and made a fist. "If we can lure these guys to a secluded spot—say, an island in the middle of the ocean, or perhaps the desert in Wind country, where there's nobody around to worry about, we'll be able to use the greatest weapon the bijuu provide us with with _impunity. _S-class shinobi or not, if we keep our heads about us, exactly _how _in the _hell _could they survive one or two streams of concentrated chakra flying at them?"

Yugito smirked. She honestly hadn't even thought of that. True, she had had trouble managing the Nibi in the past, but… Hmm. The chance to cut loose…

That clenched it for her. "I'm in," she said. "I vote for the alliance."

Naruto mentally crowed. _Two down… five to go, _he thought.

"Mizukage-sama, Sanbi jinchuriki. Please provide your vote," Mifune continued without ceremony.

Yagura crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "As Mizukage," he said slowly, "I have to vote against this idea. If I didn't have other responsibilities, I might join, but… No. It just isn't possible at the moment. Apologies."

Naruto had expected this, though it was no less disappointing. Speaking out of turn, he asked "But can we still count on your support?"

Yagura glanced at him through one open eye. "Perhaps."

Naruto sighed and nodded. As to be expected, he supposed. As despicable as he was (from Haku's account, for example) it would be too much to ask of him to abandon his village and go hunting.

"Rōshi, Yonbi jinchūriki."

Rōshi glared at no one in particular, folding his hands together and staring over top of them. "These bastards took Han," he muttered ominously. "Han might not have been a great guy, but he was blood. He was family. I will tear them _limb from bloody limb _if I get the chance. I'm in." He looked over at Naruto, who was extremely glad not to have this man's ire directed at him. "We do this right, kid, it'll end up being a disaster. Lots and lots of fighting coming our way. Probably lots of people gonna die. You think you're up for that?"

Naruto gulped. "Yeah," he said after a half moment. "I've fought for my life a few times already, and most of the other guys are dead by now. I think I can manage it."

Rōshi shook his head. "No, I don't think you are. Listen, from what I've heard, you haven't really been around a long time. You see those guys?" He pointed at Yugito, Yagura, and Kirābī. "Us four," he said gravelly, "we're something of an old guard. We were all around for the last war. We're used to killing without thinking about it. But from what I hear, you're still plenty green. You might not have what it takes to fight shinobi of this magnitude."

Naruto grit his teeth. "Are you calling me weak?" he hissed. "Are you implying that I don't have what it takes?" He pounded the table, splintering the wood. "I've already fought two of the Seven Swordsmen and survived! I fought a Jounin missing-nin from Kumo and kicked his ass, well before I graduated! I went head-to-head with a guy that _you _admit was a candidate for Tsuchikage! Yes, I'm a rookie, but I've got enough training and aces in the hole that you couldn't _dream _of, so don't even _start!_ You think I can't hack it?" He glared into Rōshi's eyes. "Don't even _bet _on it."

Rōshi glared back… then broke into a grin. "I like this kid," he directed at Mifune. "He's on my team, for sure."

Naruto realized with a groan that he'd just been tested. _I can't believe I fell for it! _In the back of his mind, he felt both the Kyuubi and Sando chuckling. _Oh, shut up, _he told them grouchily. _Bastards, all of you are bastards. _

Several in the room chuckled, including all of the ones Naruto had brought with him. He turned around and glared at them, but his death stare was ineffective to those who knew him.

Mifune, of course, was not amused. "Continuing," he prompted. "Utakata, Rukobi jinchūriki. Your vote."

Utakata's hands were folded politely in front of him. "Strength in numbers," he echoed Yugito. "I do not know the situation, or where we stand. But… I believe the correct path in this matter is to pool our resources. I will join the rest of you in this endeavor."

Naruto silently rejoiced. Four out of five already… just two more, and the vast majority of the power that balanced the shinobi world would be a single, viable fighting force! Just two more!

"But."

Naruto's heart sank.

"But… the chain of command must be structured for flexibility. There are sure to be times in which the judgment of the one we decree our squad leader isn't in fact infallible. We have to remember that this isn't anything that has been done before. I propose that we have an overall objective clearly outlined, and that we respect protocol, but I'm not quite sure that any of us are at all comfortable being put in the situation where we must obey all orders given to us by shinobi from villages that were once, or still are, our enemies."

Mifune nodded. "A valid point, Utakata-san," he said. "These are decisions that you will have to work out for yourself, though. I believe that you who band together work this out for yourself. One of the most important ideals in teamwork is trust. You must learn to trust each other to truly be a working team. Those details will be left to you."

Utakata nodded curtly after a moment. "Acceptable."

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. One more hurdle jumped.

"Fū, Nanabi jinchūriki," Mifune said. "What is your decision?"

She didn't answer right away, and for a moment Naruto thought that there might be something the matter. _No… no! She can't have changed her mind! This can't be happening! Not after all this! _Her face was grim, hard lines etched into her expressing. Her hands were flat on the table, and she slowly looked around the room. "I come from a smaller, less powerful village than any of you," she said slowly. "It's no exaggeration to say that I'm probably the biggest percentage of fighting force Taki has. I mean no disrespect, but my village contains one of the most valuable resources around. What assurance do I have that in my absence, Taki will be safe?"

Mifune frowned. "This alliance—"

"—Is nearly paper-thin," she interrupted. "True, what we're doing her is great… historic, even. But the fact remains that there are plenty of other villages that wouldn't hesitate to take advantage of the situation without a second thought.

"Since shortly after the founding of the hidden village system, Taki has had to rely almost exclusively on two powers for survival: the Nanabi and its potential, and the Hero Water." Several heads nodded; the legendary Hero Water was what had allowed Taki to obtain its status in the first place. "Recently, our former oyabun died after consuming a portion of the Water, leaving his son—my cousin—to take his place. The truth of the matter is, I'm somewhat uncomfortable with the idea of leaving it so exposed. We don't have as many shinobi active as any of the rest of you." She turned to look at Shibuki and the rest of her retinue, who nodded their encouragement. "I'm not proud of this, but Hokage-sama—if there's any way you could spare some of your force for the duration of this crisis to be stationed at Taki to discourage hostilities, then I would have no reason not to join. But if not… I would have no choice but to reject this proposal."

Naruto's blood ran cold. _No… no! This can't be happening! Not when we're so close! _"What kind of force are you asking for?" Naruto asked before Sarutobi could speak.

Shibuki answered in her place. "Like she said, we're not proud of this, Sarutobi-sama," he said. "But… to adequately compensate for Fū's absence, we'd probably need about a hundred shinobi to come to our village."

Sarutobi frowned. "That may be difficult," he said thoughtfully. "Can you provide housing for them? Can you feed them? What about missions? I doubt that you want a hundred soldiers there doing nothing."

"That is correct. With your permission, they will be able to take missions from our office and run them under Konoha's banner. At the most, perhaps fifteen or twenty Jounin should be enough, with the rest evenly split between Chuunin and Genin. In the past few years, we've received a massive influx of mission requests, and we simply don't have the manpower to take them all. With your peoples' assistance, we could easily take on more jobs."

Sarutobi frowned. "This seems convenient for you, Shibuki-san," he said carefully. "One hundred for the price of one."

Shibuki glowered. "Don't make it out as if I'm loving this!" he almost shouted. "My cousin wants to go out there and have her revenge! Do you think I don't want to be by her side? I do! But I have a village to look after, and my hands are tied! Does it not say in our respective villages' pact that in times of crisis, we would lend aid when necessary? I don't want to play this card, but I will if I have to!"

Naruto was quietly impressed. From what he'd heard of the man, Shibuki was normally little more than a coward. He'd have to be sufficiently frightened to be galvanized to the audacity of trying to back Sarutobi into a corner. That took _balls. _

"One hundred shinobi…" Sarutobi mused. He bent his head sideways and quickly consoled with Kakashi. They exchanged a few quick sentences; after a few moments, he returned his attention to the leader of Taki. "How about this," he said slowly. "We won't give you one hundred. How does _two _hundred sound?"

Naruto grinned as Shibuki's jaw nearly fell to the floor. "T-two hundred, you say?" he gasped. "Um… Accepted!"

Sarutobi smiled genially at the young man. "Your father was a friend of mine," he told him, "and he saved my life once. Consider this debt repaid." He turned to Kakashi. "Make sure that the arrangements are made; I'm leaving this to you. Hand-pick the squads, and make sure there's a good number of Chuunin who're ready for their Jounin exams mixed in."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Kakashi replied, his exposed eye smiling. "Will do."

Even Mifune seemed pleased with this turn of events. _That's one more headache avoided, _he silently mused. _Even _I _had been worried about that village. As the sole one not one of the Elemental nations with a bijuu, they're in an even more tenuous position than any other. Konoha's support solidifies this more than any written treaty ever could. _Stifling a smile, he turned his attention to Kirābī. "Kirābī, Hachibi jinchūriki. What is your vote?"

Kirābī didn't hesitate. "The mighty Hachibi ready to rumble and tumble! These bastards 'bout to tremble and bumble!" He pointed a finger dramatically at Naruto while making another weird sign with his other hand. "I'm down with the kid, loving what he did! _Yosh!_"

Yugito, the Raikage, and all of the Kumo representatives facepalmed. "_No rapping, B!_" they all shouted, as if it was a recurring occurrence… which, in fact, it probably was.

"…I'll take that as a vote in support of an alliance, then," Mifune deadpanned. "In that case… Uzumaki, Kyuubi jinchūriki. I doubt I need to ask where you stand, seeing as this is your proposal, but for the record—what is your vote?"

Naruto grinned and stood straight, pushing his chair away with a scrape. All eyes were on him. He was going to _enjoy _this. "Brothers and sisters," he said, something of a note of power in his voice. "I stand with you. As of today, the Bijuu Corps begins handing out some payback. Let's go kick some _ass._"

Approval shone in most every eye in the room, save for a few from Suna and the Mizukage himself. For a brief moment, Naruto let the elation in his heart feel something that he never thought possible in the face of extermination: _hope. _

"Well, well… isn't this touching."

It was too good to last.

Every head whipped to the space behind Mifune. There, sitting on a banister, was a medium-built man in a black outfit with a high collar and red mask that swirled up to his right eye. Mifune glared at him as he placed a hand on his sword's hilt. "Who are you?" he said gravely. "And how did you get past my people?"

The figure waved his hand "hello" at the samurai. "Hi! Eh, don't worry about your people, I didn't do nothin' to em. Just skipped around here and there, no worries." His carefree tone was completely out of place with the setting, especially considering that roughly thirty percent of the world's shinobi power structure was staring him down. "I just came here to deliver a message to you folks under a white flag." He dug around in his various pockets and pouches. "Wait a minute, wait a minute… I know I put it somewhere… Hrm, not there, not there…" He reached into his back pocket and perked up. "Oh! There it is!" He withdrew a stained white scarf and waved it limply above his head. "See? White flag. I come in peace."

Naruto grit his teeth. He prepared to leap… but an instant later, Kakashi and Jiraiya took a hold of a shoulder each and stalled him. "Stop, Naruto," Kakashi muttered. "Let's hear him out for a moment. If he's who we think he is…"

"We might have an inside into the ones hunting you," Jiraiya finished. He glanced at the odd man across the room. "Who are you?" he barked, any trace of his usual jovial self gone. Now, Naruto realized just why this man was considered one of the greatest of all time—his killing intent was truly irrepressible.

"Who, me?" the person asked, pointing at himself. "I'm Tobi. I used to work for Sasori-sama, but now that he's dead… well, I'm kinda floating right now. But Leader-sama sent me with a message for you, and it'd probably be a good idea to at least hear me out, eh?"

"What message?" Mifune quizzed. His knuckles tightened around the undrawn sword in his hand. "Just who is this 'Leader-sama'? What do you want?"

"And most importantly," added Yugito, "what exactly do you want with the bijuu?" By now, nearly everyone in the room had gotten to their feet; several had taken positions in the balcony, and the Tsuchikage was actually _floating _in the air.

"Hold on! Hold on!" Tobi said, holding his hands out in front of him, attempting to mollify the roomful of shinobi. "Don't attack! Ok, here's the message…" He pulled a folded paper out from inside his jacket, unfolded it, and read aloud: "'We are Akatsuki. The peace that the world knows now was built upon the bloody backs of those weaker than yourselves. Wars destroy the world as surely as fire destroys a forest. In order to remove the ability to wage war, we are taking the greatest weapons known—' That's you guys, by the way," Tobi added, nodding toward the gathered jinchūriki—"'and are going to place them somewhere they can never be abused again. This world in which we live has no need of weapons if we wish to live in peace. That the arms race continues in preparations of war cannot be tolerated. We who value peace will do whatever it takes—even if it means annihilation—to bring peace to the world.

"Every world war has had the jinchūriki play a part, and it was with them that the greatest loss of life was made. By destroying the weapons, we destroy war itself. You have one hour to hand over every jinchūriki present to us. Should you not comply, you will be destroyed. Signed… "Pain."'"

The room was deadly silent for a few seconds. Then, Kirābī, in total seriousness, said to the room, "Who wants to smash him?"

The whole room broke into shouts of anger and rage. More than one shinobi had begun drawing chakra for jutsu, and the air was almost visible with hate.

Tobi leapt backwards and clung to the wall about five feet up with chakra. "Whoa, whoa!" he shouted above the cacophony, waving his hands frantically in front of him! "Easy easy! I'm just the messenger! You're not supposed to kill the messenger!"

"That only applies to wartime situations!" the Raikage bellowed. He smashed the desk in front of him to splinters and stalked through the rubble. "Excuse me," he said gruffly as he moved between Gaara and Yugito and hopped over the table. "Do you mean to tell me that you declare war on us?" Static electricity began sparkling around him, his anger loosening the great stores of lightening chakra inside his coils.

Tobi visibly gulped and scampered further on up the wall. "N-no! I'm just following orders, guys, honest! Listen, relax, all right?"

"_Relax?_" Rōshi bellowed. "You just demanded we walk ourselves out like sheep! Well, you go on out and tell this 'Pain' to take his threats and shove them down _his throat_!"

Agreeing voices resounded about the room. Hard warriors stared down the sole intruder with intent to kill. "What makes you think you can back up these threats?" Jiraiya shouted, jumping on top of his table and pointing at Tobi. "You little punk! Who the hell do you think I am?"

"You're the Legendary Pervert!" Tobi replied promptly. "Oh! I almost forgot!" He pulled a copy of Jiraiya's book from inside his jacket and tossed it at the Sage. "Could you do me a favor and autograph that, please! I'm a huge fan!"

Jiraiya glowered and caught the book and stared at the man for a moment. Without warning, the _Icha Icha _burst into flames. No jutsu, no seals… it just _combusted. _"You," he said in almost a whisper, the entire hall silent in minor shock at the spontaneous flame, "you just demanded that I hand over my godson. You desecrate the memory of the greatest man I've ever known." He gently hopped off of the table and stalked around the semicircular table, every eye split between him and Tobi. "You threaten our very way of life, and say that we'll die if we don't comply?

"You little _shit. _You aren't even in the same league as the _weakest _of us. Get out of here before someone here decides to _rampage._" He jerked his head to the side. "Go on."

Behind him, several shinobi, including all of the Kage, began walking around their desks and slowly advanced on Tobi. "Oh, shit," he mumbled. "Um… I guess I'll relay your intentions Leader-sama…" He faded backwards into the wall, somehow. "But before I go… Yagura… _it's time to go fishing._"

The Mizukage froze in his tracks, as if jerked to a halt.

"What the…" someone mumbled.

Things went a little bit crazy after that.

The entire left side of Yagura's body morphed into a blue-grey monstrosity in a split second, before anyone could react. Several tentacles sprouted spontaneously from his side, spearing his four retinue through their chests and pinning them to the wall, killing them instantly. They instantly whipped around to bash at others, but Mifune had drawn his sword and slashed them off three feet from Yagura's body.

The Mizukage didn't react to the pain (if he felt it) and sprouted new appendages from where the others had been cut. These, he directed at Mifune himself, more quickly than the samurai could react.

Before the leader of Iron was killed, however, a twin blast of lightening and wind flashed on either side of him. On one side, the Raikage stood, blue lightening covering his body, his hands formed into a stiff palm; apparently, he'd sent a wave of raiton jutsu to save Mifune's life.

On the other side was the Kazekage. He held a short tanto in a reverse grip pointing at the ground. The blade was solid black, save for the edge, which shone bright silver. The air around the blade was distorted, as if the air surrounding it was of a higher pressure.

"Yagura! What is the meaning of this?" Mifune shouted, leveling his blade in case of further hostilities.

Tobi chuckled. "Isn't it obvious? The Mizukage is _mine._" He crooked a finger and bent it inwards. "Come on, Sanbi-chan," he said.

Yagura's body slowly morphed back into his own, his flesh twisting back into his normal pale tone. Without a word, he turned his back on the assembled masses and walked toward Tobi.

"You bastard!" Naruto shouted. "What did you do to Yagura?"

Tobi chuckled. "Yagura's been my puppet for over eight years, now," he said. "Whenever I say those words, an extremely powerful genjutsu placed upon him years ago activates, bending him to my will. He's been a very useful little scapegoat for some of my projects over the years."

Naruto clenched his teeth, nearly grinding them to powder. "You bastard," he repeated a touch more calmly. "You… You mean, this whole time, everything he's done since becoming Mizukage… it's been a result of _your _orders?"

Tobi turned to Naruto. "If you're talking about all those clans that he exterminated in his youth… That ain't me," he said. "This boy was a twisted little puppy long before I came along. His twisted way of thinking simply made it easier for me to control him. Despite his truly awesome power, his mind was ripe for the plucking. It was child's play to bend him to my will."

Naruto Shunshined just a few feet away from Tobi, the Kazejin in his hands, activated. "Hey, asshole!" he shouted. "_**FUCK YOOOOUUUU!**_" He leapt and slashed at Tobi's head—

And the blade passed _right through _his skull without touching him. Tobi kicked outward at Naruto's chest the instant the blade left the space his head occupied, slamming him in a beeline clear across the room. He impacted the stone wall so hard, cracks radiated outward for a few feet. Had he not at the last minute fortified his body with chakra, he probably would have died. As it was, he felt several bones crack, including his right arm. In stunned silence, he hung there for a moment before slumping to the floor, blood splattered in splotches behind him and trailing down in small pools.

"_NARUTO!" _Haku, Kakashi, Jiraiya, and Fū leapt to his side. He had fallen to his side, and it was obvious that the back of his head had been damaged. Blood seeped from a gaping wound, quickly puddling on the stone tile.

Sarutobi alone deigned to rush to Naruto's aid. Instead, he held his ground, looking intently at the mysterious masked foe. "Who are you?" he said deceptively softly. "And no lies."

The man's voice inexplicably changed. "Just who the hell do you think I am?" he laughed. His voice was now more lower-pitched, slightly raspy, as if a bit of sawdust lined his throat. "Come on, Sarutobi… It can't be that hard to figure out, hmm?"

"Is this some genjutsu?" someone from Taki whispered to her neighbor.

Sarutobi stood up straight. "Let's find out." He whipped his robes off; in the split-second blind spot the fluttering cloth provided, he cast his arm out. Four kunai shot out from inside his sleeve, impacting the wall behind him at four different points. With a mighty yank, the entire section of wall was ripped from the floor and ceiling—

Only for the figure to phase right through it. He fell to the ground, apparently without any form of support anymore.

The Raikage seemingly teleported between Sarutobi and the wall nearly the instant it was pulled. He charged it, lightening surrounding his entire body, and smashed right on through it, his fist aimed at the figure. Stone turned to dust in the wake of his big right hand, and for a short moment he thought he had taken "Tobi" by surprise.

But he was no longer there. Neither was the Mizukage. The Raikage stopped himself before he crashed on through the hole Sarutobi had made. "Where the hell'd he go?" he asked the room with an elevated voice.

"He teleported!" a tall, skinny man with the Kazekage shouted. "Some sort of space/time jutsu! I saw him warp, kind of collapse in on himself!"

"I saw it too!" Rōshi snarled. "Quick! Who's a sensor-type around here? He took Yagura, we have to find him before he gets away!"

"I'm a sensor," Fū said shakily, "but I'm only sensitive to people around me. I have crap range."

"Damn," Utakata muttered, his lips a grim thin line. "Mifune-sama, I'm taking over as acting Mizukage for the moment." He glanced down at the corpses of those Yagura had killed. "Send out scouting forces; if there really are enough people around here to be a threat, there's no way they'd easily be able to hide them. Parties no more than ten men, about five or six in all. If they use the Keiga spread formation, it shouldn't be long before we find them."

Mifune nodded. "Sound advice. In the meantime, I suggest that you jinchūriki—when Naruto-san is healed, that is—plan for your defense. We have no idea what forces are against us, nor their number." He sheathed his sword with a _clack. _"But we will hold strong. Kages… the time to fight has come once again. But for the first time in the record of our world, I will break my nation's neutrality stance and proudly stand beside you on the battlefield." He smiled grimly, his eyes low and thin. "Let's make some history."

* * *

Naruto groaned as he sat himself up. His head was a bit woozy, and the sensation of his skin and bones all knitting back together still gave him the willies. He looked around to see faces, though they were out of focus. _Huh… why do I see three Kakashis? Is he using Kage Bunshin? _Someone grabbed his chin and pulled it to his left. It was a light-haired man with a Kumo hitai-ate, snapping his fingers in front of Naruto's eyes. His lips moved, but all Naruto heard was something along the lines of "Mwah muh waa durr" and so on. _Huh. That bastard had a pretty good kick to him. I wonder exactly how hurt I am… _He tried lifting his head, and instantly felt as if he was going to throw up. _Not gonna do that again… heh._

The Kumo-nin's hands began to glow green with medical chakra as he placed them over Naruto's head. After a minute or so, the nausea began to fade, and his vision began to clear. "Ugh…" he moaned as he sat up with some assistance from Fū. "Please don't tell me that just happened. And don't tell Sasuke… he'd never let me live it down."

"He's cracking jokes," Fū said with a strained smile. "He'll be all right." She helped him to his feet "Are you ok?" she asked sincerely.

He rubbed his head and nodded. "I'm fine," he said. "Thanks, by the way," he said to the medic. "What happened?"

"You got your ass handed to you," Yugito said bluntly. "You rushed in without thinking. Maybe that's worked for you in the past, but statistically, it'll get you killed."

Naruto bowed his head in shame. "You're right," he said. "I can't believe that I let myself be put down by a punk like that Tobi guy so easily. Fuck!"

Fū looked at him uneasily. "What?" he asked. "What's going on? Just how long was I out for?"

Sarutobi had lit his pipe. With an exhale, he said, "About ten minutes, Naruto. We have some disturbing news. You might want to sit down."

Naruto shook his head. "I'll stand, if you don't mind. Hokage-sama, what happened?"

Sarutobi harrumphed. "We've been had," he growled. "Been taken for a fool. The one who called himself 'Tobi'… he's more than he appears."

"He—he what? Do you know who he is?"

Sarutobi looked sidelong at the Tsuchikage. "Of us all," he said slowly, "only is old enough to have personal experience with the man who we all thought long dead." He grimaced almost painfully. "Tsuchikage-dono recognized some of the techniques used by that man as those utilized many, many years ago by one of the founders of Konoha. It seems that… Uchiha Madara lives yet."

Naruto stared at his Hokage for a moment and blinked. "Huh?" he dug a pinkie in his ear. "Wow, I must be out of it… I coulda sworn you just said 'Uchiha Madara.'"

Jiraiya turned from a heated conference with one of the Iwa people. "He did," he said gruffly before returning to his conversation.

Naruto looked around. More than one eye was on him. The rest of the remaining jinchūriki except for Fū remained at their seats. "Hold on," he said. "How does he know that it's Madara? Didn't that guy die, like, over sixty years ago?"

Sarutobi nodded curtly. "Supposedly… yes. But it seems that he's survived, somehow."

"But _how _does he know that it's him?" Naruto repeated. "I mean, as rare as time/space jutsu are, it's not impossible to think that someone else could have learned that jutsu, right? Maybe he passed it on before he died?" He looked from Sarutobi to Kakashi and back again. "Right?"

Kakashi slowly shook his head. "Impossible?" He sighed. "Naruto, according to the Tsuchikage, it's nearly certain that it is Uchiha Madara we are up against."

"According to my colleague," Sarutobi continued, "Uchiha Madara's signature skills were his ability to move through solid objects and his teleportation jutsu that could take him well over a hundred miles distance at a time. Unlike the Hiraishin, which needs tags to conduct the teleportation, Madara could do it purely at will." He seemed uneasy at the prospect. "These skills are a product of his Eternal Mangekyou, a level of Sharingan never seen before or since him. Naruto… if he is in this group, and is still alive… the danger that you are in _cannot _be underestimated."

Naruto let that soak in for a moment. "Well," he said briefly. "This changes everything, then, doesn't it?" He walked over to the dropped Kazejin and picked it up, examining it briefly for damage. Satisfied that it was in perfect condition, he put it in a pocket inside his jacket and walked around the table toward the podium.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Kakashi asked warily.

Naruto half-grinned at his sensei for a half second. "I'm just finishing the job I came here for," he replied.

He stood in front of the podium for a moment. Several people were watching him (the jinchūriki, of course, and a few of the advisors) but most everyone else was locked in other conversation with Mifune or the other Kages. _I guess I have to do this _my _way, _he thought. Inhaling deeply, he bellowed, "HEY, EVERYONE! LISTEN UP A MOMENT!"

Every conversation stopped mid-word as Naruto's shout reached their ears. They turned around to look at him up front. "Now that I have your attention, please, return to your seats. I have something that I need to say, and I don't think we have a lot of time. Please, just listen to me!"

"Why should we listen to you?" the Kazekage scoffed. "You were beaten in one blow! What of value can _you _contribute, boy?"

Naruto's knuckles whitened as he gripped the wooden platform in front of him. "I'll be the first to admit," he said tersely, "that I was more than a little rash in my actions. But there was no way I could predict that he'd be _intangible_. I had already prepared a counterattack, but… you saw how that went. If Tsuchikage-sama is right, and this really _is _Uchiha Madara, can any of you honestly tell me that you would have fared much better?" He shook his head. "I doubt it.

"I apologize for putting us in this position in the first place. I called this meeting, and I'll accept any blame that comes of it. But the fact of the matter is, we are in an extremely tenuous position. If To—Madara—told us the truth, then we have more than him to fear. These people, Akatsuki, seem to feel that they are actually in a position to threaten even a power such as ours. What we need to do is find out exactly what their numbers are, their positions, what kind of force they can employ. Above all, we can't afford to think he was bluffing."

He turned to Mifune. "Mifune-sama, how many samurai do you have on active duty?"

The samurai leader frowned. "Right now, I have about seven hundred here at the mountain. Twice that at outposts around the country. Two hundred are currently scouting for the enemy. They have only been out on the search for fifteen minutes or so. I expect word back in about ten minutes at the earliest."

"Ten minutes… that might be long enough…"

"For what?" the Tsuchikage, Onoki, barked. "Do you have some sort of plan, boy?" He snorted. "Don't make me laugh! What kind of plot can a scrapling like you come up with in that short a time?"

Naruto smiled slightly. "You'd be surprised. Believe it or not, due to some circumstances I'm not at liberty to disclose, I have the entirety of my father's memories and experiences right up here." He tapped the side of his head with a finger. "Everything he's ever done, all that he's ever known… right here. I think I can come up with something."

Eyes around the room widened in shock. "You cannot be serious," Onoki gasped. "You…" He stared at Sarutobi. "Hokage! What is the meaning of this?"

Sarutobi closed his eyes. "We all have our secrets," he told his colleague. "This one is one of mine. Let it go." He opened his eyes marginally. "Now is _not _the time to let old grudges to stand in our way. What Uzumaki said yesterday could very well be the truth: what we do today could very well be a turning point in history. I will not let it be sullied or stalled by bickering. For all our sake, just… just listen to the boy. Give him the benefit of the doubt. Believe me when I say, he _is _his father's son."

The two elders stared each other down for a moment. "That is what I'm afraid of," the Tsuchikage replied. Onoki was the first to break the gaze. "Fine. We'll do it your way." He turned his attention back to Naruto. "Talk, boy."

Naruto bowed at the Tsuchikage. "Thank you." He moved around the podium and crouched to the floor. "Some of you may recognize this." He pulled his father's pronged kunai from his pouch and held it before him. "This was the key to his Hiraishin no Jutsu, the technique that let Konoha overcome Iwa's vast numerical superiority in the last war. It was, in part, what allowed us to force a peace negotiation at war's end." He put the kunai aside and withdrew a scroll from a pocket. "Now, one of these are useful, but it takes a lot more to fight an army." With a deft flick of his wrist, he spread the scroll out to full extension and tapped several symbols. In a puff of smoke, several leather cases appeared. He grabbed one and stood, unclasping it and letting it fall open. "But a couple hundred can be pretty damn devastating, eh?"

The Raikage gasped. "You have mastered your father's technique?"

Naruto shook his head. "Well… not quite yet. Still working on that. But don't worry, there's more than one way to skin a cat." He looked up at Mifune. "Mifune-sama, I have a favor to ask of you. I need floor plans for the entire fortress, level-by-level. _All _of it."

Mifune scowled. "What can you possibly want those for?" he asked.

Naruto held a hand before him. "The way I see it, the situation we're in is a classic strategic scenario: we are in a position of defense against a force of unknown size, strength, or makeup. We have next to _no _idea who we're up against, and what's worse, what they can bring to the table.

"Think of this as if it were a chess match. The seven present jinchūriki are kings that have to be protected. You Kage are queens—if you'll forgive the analogy—and the rest of you are pretty much bishops, rooks, and knights." He seemed to have their attention. "Mifune-sama, again, forgive the analogy, but most of the samurai under your command can be considered as pawns. I don't know their relative skill level, but I'm going to assume that they have skill levels as widely ranged as shinobi, right? Some of them are more skilled than others, but there are also those who aren't quite as experienced.

"Now, in chess, a basic strategy is to take out the first line of defense—the pawns—and later in the game to duel with your rooks and bishops, setting up your knights to box in your opponent's king. The queen is often either used as a last line of defense, to discourage overt assaults on the king, or as an enforcer to attack your foe.

"Unfortunately, that's where the analogy falls off the table. If we continue to look at this as a game of chess, we have absolutely no idea how many queens and knights and such they have. Their whole strategy could totally throw ours out of order. If we go out there and meet them on the front line, it's entirely possible that they could completely overwhelm us. I know that this mountain is a fortress, and its soldiers are among the best in the world, but…" He gestured with the leather pouch. "I just might have a way to wipe out their entire first wave to the last man. At the very least, we'd take out their pawns. With them out of the way, we'd be able to focus on the real fight."

The Kazekage stood up abruptly. "And how do you propose we do that?" he asked sharply.

Naruto nodded at him. "It's simple. Uchiha Madara thinks he's set a trap for us. Yes, we're all here, but a cornered rat is the most dangerous. Tell me, what's the most efficient way to kill a lot of people in such a short time?"

"Carpet-bombing?" suggested Jiraiya.

"Uh-uh. I'm pretty sure Mifune-sama wouldn't appreciate us demolishing his mountain. No… I have a better idea." He bent down and gathered all of the leather cases in his arms. "But I'm going to need your help." He carried them over to his spot at the half-circle table and began opening them wide.

"And your plan is?" the Raikage prompted.

Naruto closed his eyes. "You guys probably aren't going to like this," he said. "But… this one time… how about we leave the kings wide open?"

Sarutobi stared at Naruto blankly, sharing the expression with the vast majority of those present—even the other jinchūriki. "You must be joking," he said. "You think that—that—"

"Just hear me out, old man," Naruto interrupted. "That's not the end of it." He hefted a pronged kunai before him. "This is a tactic that Dad never got around to trying, mainly because he never had the chance. But it should work, in theory."

"Out with it, boy!" snapped the Tsuchikage. "Don't keep us waiting!"

Naruto chuckled darkly. "If you insist." For the next several minutes, he quickly explained his plan, and why he thought it would work. From beginning to end, leaving no detail unmentioned, he outlined every facet of the strategy he was proposing.

When he finished speaking, the room was silent for a good minute. Finally, Onoki said, "That's crazy. Absolutely, without a doubt, crazy. I've never heard a plan more preposterous than that."

"Just crazy enough to work, perhaps?" Naruto said hopefully.

Onoki actually smirked. "Well… I wouldn't go that far." He looked sidelong at the other Kages. "What do you lot think? Do you think it has a chance?"

The Kazekage grunted. "Perhaps," he admitted grudgingly. "Indeed, 'crazy enough to work' just might be the best way to describe this absurd notion. A? What do you think?"

The extremely-muscled Raikage crossed his arms. "It's risky, will probably fail, and we'll all die horrible, painful deaths if there's a single leak." His brown, leathery face cracked a smirk. "Sounds about right to me. But unless Mifune allows, it cannot happen. What do you think?"

Mifune looked over at the assembled jinchūriki and council. Naruto knew that this was the most important vote of them all. Without his assistance and go-ahead, it would all fall to pieces. Mifune locked eyes with Naruto for a brief moment, then turned to the samurai guarding the inside of the door. "You—go to the records room and get the maps Uzumaki needs. Be quick about it. Bring grease pencils too—we'll need them. Also, tell Moah to come here." The guard nodded and left quickly.

"Uzumaki," Mifune said. "I am placing a great deal at risk by letting you get away with this. Should you fail and we both survive, you can rest assured that I will hold you personally responsible for every life lost today. You better be as good as your word."

Naruto withdrew a normal kunai from his side pouch and placed the edge of it against his palm. With a quick jerk, he stained it red with his blood. He gripped his hand into a fist, letting small droplets pool on the table before him. "You have my oath by blood, Mifune-sama," he said gravely, "that if you desire my head by day's end, you will have it." He slammed the blade into the table nearly to the hilt. "_Believe _it."

This seemed to satisfy the samurai. "That's enough… for now. I will not hesitate to collect. But we have more important things to discuss at the moment."

"Indeed, we do," muttered the Kazekage. "For instance… in the matter of us four—"

"_Five," _interrupted Shibuki. "There are _five _here, gentlemen. There's no way I'd sit back and let you fight alone."

The Raikage looked at the fairly-timid-looking man and frowned. "Kid, you mean well. But you have no chance of fighting on our level. You probably never will. If you get in our way, you'll be crushed!"

To the amazement of everyone present, Shibuki, who had long had a reputation as a coward, held his ground. "I know that already! But in case you forget, Raikage-dono, we are here on equal ground as leaders of our villages! Just because you're a Kage doesn't give you any right to boss me around like an underling! I don't ask for your permission, nor do I desire it! My family, _my life _is on the line, same as yours! Do you think you feel any more strongly for Yugito or Kirābī than I do Fū?" He slammed a fist onto the table before him. "Don't bet on it! She's almost the only family I have left! Don't you _dare _condescend to me, A! I will not stand for it!"

Sarutobi sighed. "I'm sorry, Shibuki," he said gently, "but what he says is the truth. Maybe you'd be better off with your people…"

Shibuki glared at him. "You, too, Hokage? Is it better to be old, than young?" He shook his head. "My father taught me that a man fights for what he believes in. He believed that one day, we all could live in a world without war. If we can accomplish that today, if I can help make his dream a reality, then I'll gladly give my life for that dream!" He hesitated. "And… besides. There is a way for me to stand beside you four on equal ground. For ten minutes, I can attain strength equal to you. Maybe it'll make a difference."

Sarutobi raised a brow. "You don't mean…"

Shibuki nodded. "Hai, Hokage-dono." He removed a small glass vial, containing no more than three fluid ounces of clear, faintly-glowing liquid, from inside his flak jacket. "There is enough Hero Water here for me to fight at your side. Do not try to talk me out of this."

Sarutobi merely closed his eyes and smiled. "On the contrary," he told the younger man sagely. "I believe that your father would have done the same exact thing."

Shibuki flushed slightly with pride. "Thank you," he said softly. "Thank you." His voice caught with the last word. "I needed that… more than you know."

"Shibuki-kun" Fū said to her village leader. "You be careful, ok?"

Shibuki laughed it off, even though he looked as worried as her. "I'll be all right, cousin," he said. "You just worry about yourself. After all… Taki needs you more than it does me."

"Shibuki!"

The man ran to his cousin and embraced her tightly. "Fū… promise me you'll survive. Whatever it takes, you survive."

Tears began pooling in Fū's eyes. She loved her cousin as much as humanly possible. She knew how hard it was for him to put on a front like this. Normally, he was this terrified little boy, but if this was a glimpse of who he really was—a man willing to destroy himself to keep her safe—then he, as well, was his father's son. "You too," she whispered in his ear. "You do Uncle proud, ok?"

Shibuki pulled away from her and smiled with mostly-false confidence. "You too." He kissed her on her forehead. "Give them hell." He realized just then that everyone was staring at them. "What are you all waiting for?" he asked loudly. "Uzumaki's plan isn't going to get into motion with everyone just sitting there gawking! Move it!"

A leaned to his right and mumbled to the Kazekage, who just happened to be sitting at his table's seat closest to him. "I like this kid," he mumbled. "Reminds me of his old man."

Kazekage nodded. "Perhaps, to a degree. But Habuki was never quite on our level. I doubt that his son will ever be, either."

A shrugged and stood up. "Who knows? The boy just might surprise us." Louder, he said, "You heard the man! Jinchūriki, form up! Figure out who's in charge and get to your posts! Uzumaki, when the maps get here, work with Mifune to get those kunai distributed! Hokage, Kazekage, Tsuchikage, Shibuki—we have to figure out where we're going to set up shop. We have to give these bastards a show!"

The Tsuchikage chuckled. "Hmm… been a while since I turned anyone into dust." He grinned under his potato-shaped nose. "Sounds fun. Count me in." He floated into the air and spread his arms out dramatically. "We need a name for this, though, for posterity's sake. How does… 'The Grand Unified Army of Shinobi' sound?"

Jiraiya laughed. "It sounds just pretentious enough for us, old man," he said, smiling. "Let's go with it." He cracked his knuckles. "Sounds like a good book title, too. I just might steal it."

Sarutobi shook his head in amusement. The antics of his favorite student would never cease to amaze him.

That's when the blood-covered samurai fell onto the floor.

In a flash, Mifune was by his side. "Mugan!" he shouted. "Mugan!" The man's armor had been shattered, leaving little more than chunks of jagged metal clinging t his body in bits and pieces. His helmet had been decimated along with his armor, exposing a horrific gash traversing his left eye down to his chin. His right hand held a stump of a sword, while his left simply wasn't there anymore. "Mugan, what happened? Who did this to you?"

Mifune shifted the man onto his back. From the sporadic rise and fall of his chest, it didn't look as if he had much longer to live. "M-Mifu… sa…" he rasped.

"Mugan…" Mifune whispered. "What happened?"

A rattle escaped the butchered samurai's lips. He coughed, bloody spittle spraying over Mifune. "D-dead," he wheezed. "A-all… dead…"

"Who? Who did this to you?"

The samurai's lips moved, but no sound came out. Mifune moved his ear closer to them, inches away. Again, the man mumbled for a few seconds… then fell limp, dead.

The room was in total silence. None of them were any strangers to bloodshed, but this… this was different. This wasn't supposed to happen. It wasn't supposed to be this way. "What?" A asked, more solemnly than he usually spoke. "What is it? Who did this to him?"

Mifune slowly stood and looked at the assembly. "This man," he said slowly, "was one of my best. He was a dear friend. He… he only said four words before he passed." Steel filled his eye. "'Oto. Ame. Sanbi. Orochimaru.' Those were his dying words." He walked catatonically back to the podium and faced the masses. "Mugan's squad was sent north. That's where they are now. I—"

In all the hubbub, nobody noticed a lone figure that most had not even noticed slip from the room… none, save for Uzumaki Naruto, that is.

Naruto caught Haku by the sleeve of his shirt. "Haku," he said slowly. "Mind telling me where you're heading?"

Haku turned around, gently shaking Naruto's grip. His expression was calm, as was his demeanor. But Naruto knew his bodyguard well enough to know that there was an inner fury as cold as the driven snow inside of him. "I'm going after Yagura," he said flatly.

Naruto shook his head. "No. No way. Not happening. Haku, you're staying right _here._ That's an order."

Haku didn't waver. "I am going after Yagura," he repeated. "If I have to walk through you to do it, I will." He turned back around and advanced a step. A half-second later, Naruto's katana was unsheathed and an inch away from Haku's throat.

Haku turned his head just enough to look Naruto in the eye. "So… it's come to this, has it?" he said softly. "You would hold _me _on a razor's edge?"

Naruto dipped his head. "If it keeps you alive… yeah. You're damn right it comes to this, buddy. Nothing personal, but if that's really Uchiha Madara out there, you don't stand a chance against both him and Yagura. It isn't happening. This can end one of two ways: You knock me out and escape, or we go back in there, nice and easy, and continue planning for the fight. Your call, buddy. Don't make me hurt you."

Haku… _smiled. Uh-oh, _Naruto thought. He recognized that smile. "Naruto-san," he said politely. "Tell me, when we were walking here, what did you see?"

Naruto frowned. Where was he going with this? "A bunch of trees?" he said. "I dunno. What?"

Haku sighed. "_Snow, _Naruto. We saw miles and miles of _ice _and _snow. _If I'm near a water source, the Hyouton is strong. But in this land covered with _snow and ice, _I am the closest thing to an elemental god this world has ever known. Trust me when I say… I can do this." His expression hardened. "One way or another, I've been training to fight the Mizukage since the day Zabuza-sama took me in. This is the time, this is the _place _to put all that effort to good use. Naruto, please, just… just go back. Go back to your brothers and sisters. You have a war to wage. Go and make the world a better place." He raised a hand and seemed to study it intently. "This hand of mine represents all those innocents killed by that monster." He gripped it violently into a fist. "Those people all cry out to me to do what they cannot. I would lie if I said that I wasn't doing this for me as well, but it is not my personal revenge that I clamor for. This is a vendetta. This is my own war."

Naruto looked his friend in the eye for one good, long moment before removing his sword. "Go," he barked. "Go. I relieve you of your bodyguard duties. Get the hell out of here." He turned his back on Haku. "You do what you have to do, Haku. It's got nothing to do with me. Whether you live or die from here on out is your business."

"Naruto—"

"I said _go, _Haku."

The older boy quietly stared at Naruto's back for a moment. "Thank you, Naruto-san," he whispered.

Naruto shook his head. "Don't thank me," he told his friend. "I just sent you to your death." He knew, however, that Haku was no longer there. He knew that he'd disappeared into one of his mirrors before he'd said a word. _Haku… Don't die on me. Don't you dare die._

_Don't you dare.

* * *

_

"Where is Haku?"

Naruto looked up from his seat at Kakashi. He sighed; on top of everything else, he didn't need to deal with this headache. "He left," he said flatly. "He heard where Yagura went and charged off. I tried to stop him, but there wasn't anything I could do."

Kakashi looked at him for a moment and pondered. "He just left."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah." He ran his left hand through his hair. "Stubborn bastard. Kakashi-sensei, does it ever get easier? Saying goodbye, I mean? Haku is heading off into the middle of enemy territory right now. He'll probably die before he takes three steps. I want to know, honestly, does it _ever _get easier seeing people you care about walking into certain doom?"

Kakashi crossed his arms and thought about that for a moment. "Well, that depends. The truth is, Naruto, that we all die one day. That's nothing that any mortal can really escape from. Now, the trick of it all is whether we acknowledge that fate and accept it. Some of us fight it. Some of us seek it. But too few of us have the power to choose when and where we meet our ultimate end. Haku, as young as he is, has stood in the face of extinction more than almost anyone should.

"If you're wondering just _why _he has decided to leave, the simplest answer is usually the easiest one. The most direct reason would be, I think, is he wants to avenge his clan. I can understand that. The fact that he knows that he is probably outclassed most likely weighs heavily on his mind. I don't know if he has the skill to accomplish his goals. Anything is possible, especially for shinobi. But…" He shrugged morosely. "He chose his own path. You have yours. You cannot let his decisions overly affect yours."

Naruto frowned. "Another of the ninja rules?" he asked.

Kakashi faintly laughed. "No, no. Just something that I've learned over the years. Listen, Naruto. You're about to participate in probably the largest-scale battle since the past world war. Don't let yourself be distracted, or you play into the enemy's hands. Rule number 17, by the way."

"I remember that one," Naruto said. "Never liked that one either, now that you mention it."

"Just focus on the job at hand." Kakashi gestured at the leather cases in front of him. "You have an important job to do, Naruto. Any minute now, the men that those kunai are meant for will arrive. You have to be ready. You handle things on your end, while we handle ours." He clapped Naruto on the shoulder. "This is a big day, and it's happened because of you. don't forget that."

Naruto frowned at Kakashi's back as he walked away. _How can I forget? _he asked silently. _How many people can honestly say that they've started a war?_

_Prestigious club. Time to go make war.

* * *

_

A/N: Ok, Shrumples, Haku did something crazy. Sorry about that.

Wow. That took a little longer than I'd hoped it would. Oh well, it's here at last. Got nothing much to report. It's a beautiful day and the Packers are going to whip up on the Steelers tonight! This is a match that'll make history!

Take care! Be smart!

~dead witch


	34. Invading the Invaders

A/N: Hi, again.

Maybe I have a little explaining to do.

I know it's been a while, but I've been pretty caught up with school and, well, this weird thing called a social life. I'm confused, but for some reason, I now have about a thousand friends who actually want to spend time with me.

Yeah, this is pretty confusing to me too. Who knew a dork like me could be so popular? It's pretty mind-boggling.

All that aside, I've still had one hell of a case of writer's block that truly must be seen to be believed. For some reason, this chapter has just been the hardest I've written in quite a while. I'm not sure why, but I've had to force myself to slog through it. I hope it's all right, though.

Done making excuses, though. You guys deserve better than that. A lot of you have been reading since the beginning, and you have absolutely no idea how proud I am that I have you behind me. This humble storyteller will do his best to be more consistent in the future. Just be patient with me, ok?

Review answer time! Woo hoo!

**Silver Warrior: For all my faults as a writer, I do manage to throw in an epic speech every now and then, especially when ripping into other characters. Thanks!**

**nxkris: Here's hoping that everything goes as planned. But, as you know, not every plan goes as… well… planned. Bwahaha.**

**Shrumples: I'll take your jutsu idea into consideration, buddy. I've got major plans for the final confrontation, and it just might make its way in. It's great to have a fan like you out there :) Also, go Packers!**

**IfOnlyIf: Remember way back when when I said that the best way to keep people humble was to occasionally have them beaten down? Dude, I totally live by that rule. Punking Naruto like that was, I think, totally necessary. Also, the "trapped rat" contingency… Is it so hard to believe that Minato had plans for that sort of thing? As strong as he was, he had to have backup plans for his backup plans! And don't worry about Haku… He just might survive.**

**Dragon Man 180: Yeah, this fight is looking like it's going to be a ninja version of "Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny" huh? Also, many, many thanks for letting me bounce ideas off of you. You totally know I'm going to use most of them, right? Heh heh, I'm giggling at THIS EXACT MINUTE about the Kisame thing… I'm so pathetic, huh?**

**Scout360pyro: Thanks, I really do try to keep a good grasp of their individual characterization. I believe that any good fanfic writer's responsibility is to take characters in a new direction, but to keep them as basically the same person while taking them in a different direction. I'm rather proud of the masks, yes—as far as I know, I don't think it's been done before.**

**Shinin no Hikari: A blanket answer to all of your reviews: Thanks for giving so much attention to my story. I can't answer all of them right now, but know that I'm glad that you're paying so much attention to this. But considering that most of your reviews were waaaay behind the chapters, answering them all would be kinda redundant. Keep on reading, keep on reviewing.**

**Shadowreploid: You know what? Reviews like yours are EXACTLY why I keep on writing. As for your gripes… Ok, ok, you're right. You know what? Screw it. The Sanseirei ARE GOING to make an appearance. They will bust a major cap. And you know what? IT WILL BE AWESOME. Just have faith, please?**

**Aki666: Yeah, sorry about those early chapters. I like to think I'm doing better now. Appreciate it. Hoped the rest were to your liking.**

Reviews answered? Check. Tired? Check. Gotta go to the loo? Check.

Enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter 34**

Haku tread softly over the deep, deep snow of Iron country. Due to its almost-unique climate and close proximity to Yuki no Kuni—Snow country—the land was almost eternally cold. In truth, it didn't snow here quite as much as its neighbor, but the lack of regular warmth kept the snow where it was, creating a generational stack of layers country-wide.

His booted feet scuffed through an inch or so of powder, though he used the water-walking technique to stay atop the bed of snow below that. The sounds of his steps were the only things to reach his ear, save for the call of a lone snowbird off in the distance. As far as he could see, by all impressions, he was alone in the world.

But he knew that his solitude was nothing but an illusion. _Ame… Oto… Two supposed allies of Konoha. And yet, they are militarized in tandem against the Council of Nine and, by extension, the neutral Iron. True, there are political enemies of those villages among the council, but there are also allies. That they have been mobilized here and now can only mean that… _He narrowed his eyes in realization. _That the ones is in charge of each of those villages either works for Akatsuki, or is a _part of_ it._

He picked up the pace, weaving faster and faster through the forest trees. Wizened grand old oaks and elms, titans of the woods, surrounded him on all sides. Though spacious, they were abundant enough to keep his line of sight severely limited. For all he could see, he was alone in the world. For all he could tell, the universe consisted of nothing but the sky, these trees, the snow, and himself.

With a wry smile, he knew that this was not the truth.

In all his life with Zabuza, they had never gone to a place with the snow. He had never thought to ask; barely had it crossed his mind. Long had his only wish been to serve by his master's side that he'd almost brainwashed himself in admiration. Now…

Now, he knew why they'd stayed from the cold. Surely as a rock would smelt in a pool of lava, to bring a descendent of that cursed clan to the frigid north could bring unwanted consequences. In a place such as this, a land of perpetual winter, he was little less than a god.

…And this god's wrath had been incurred.

Midstride, he flashed his left hand through a few seals. With barely more than a thought, spires of ice shot up from the ground. Screams resounded as bodies skewered by the spikes flew up into the air, blood spattering and spraying about as they and half-torn corpses were strewn about and about.

"_MOVE IT!_" someone shouted from above. Half an instant later, dozens of kunai, some with explosive tags attached, flew directly at his head. With a single seal, blood-speckled snow rushed up around him to form a protective dome. The kunai impacted and an echoing explosion tore through the trees.

"Got him!" a man with his lower face covered by a mask shouted. "He's dog food by now!" He felt a tremor on the branch he stood upon and looked in panic to his left. To his horror, a mirror made of ice had formed there with the image of Haku in it. Before he could say another word, several senbon zipped from it and lodged themselves in his chest and head, piercing through his eyes and into his brain. He fell limply to the ground, staining the ground crimson.

Haku calmly stepped out of the mirror onto the tree's limb. "I don't believe you do," he said matter-of-factly. "Oto-nin," he whispered. "I suppose that samurai's words were true." Haku leapt backwards as a shinobi with a war hammer leapt up at him from the ground and smashed the branch to splinters. He grabbed onto the shaft of the hammer of the bulky weapon and pulled it into the mirror with him. Had the other man had the sense of awareness, he would have survived. But he kept a death-grip on his hammer and had his arms pulled along inside. With a sigh, Haku vanished from that mirror, taking the hammer, along with the man's arms, with him. The shinobi screamed as he suddenly found himself without arms, detached with surgical precision just below the elbows.

Haku appeared in a mirror some fifty feet away on the ground behind a group of three shinobi. He exited the mirror, the man's arms and hammer dropping to the snow below. _More Oto. The rest were with them as well. _Without giving them any warning, senbon pierced their exposed backs, killing them instantly and almost bloodlessly. _They're just pawns. Most of them probably don't even know the real reason they were sent here. The least I can do is give them a quick death._

"**Katon: Goukukyuu!**" A gout of fire enveloped the mirror from behind. "Everyone, use fire techniques!" shouted a woman's voice. "I heard about this kid! He used to be Momochi Zabuza's apprentice! If he specializes in Hyoton, we should be able to melt his face off!"

Others gathered to her, until there were about twenty of them clustered together. From a hidden perch, Haku noticed that shinobi of all ages—from the young to the old, Genin- to Jounin-level skill—were mobilized. _Hmm… seems as if they were waiting for me,_ he thought stoically. _I wonder… _"Stand down," he called out, throwing his voice to sound as if he was on the other side of them. "This is pointless. I've already killed plenty of your comrades. There is no reason for you to die as well."

"Fuck you!" a heavy-set shinobi shot back at the seeming-source of Haku's voice. "You're gonna die, punk!" His hands were a blur of motion. "**Katon: Karyuu Endan!**" A stream of flame shot from his mouth to where he thought Haku was.

Silence. Several of them fidgeted uneasily. "Did you get him, Mako?" whispered one of the younger soldiers, the skin exposed by his mask pale with worry.

The flame-throwing man grunted. "I don't know, Kon," he replied, a slight quiver to his voice. "This guy is tricky. It could be a tough match for us."

For a few minutes, they stood there, weapons at the ready and on guard. Meanwhile, Haku was well away, transported by mirror from them. _No need to kill them when I can simply leave them well enough alone. I cannot bring myself to destroy the lives of the young… not anymore. Their fates are out of my hands._ He was fully aware that some of those he'd killed may yet have been younger than he, but that was the way of the world.

He had to take a circuitous route, sometimes leaping through trees, sometimes simply teleporting himself past traps and other shinobi squads, but he'd eventually covered about twenty miles of snow-covered land. Evading one last line of defense, he was able to peek at an encampment from behind a tree on top of a hill.

What he saw amazed even him: in a spacious clearing amidst the forest, row upon row of tents had been set up. Outside each one were shinobi of various uniform and allegiance: roughly half of them bore the hitai-ate of Otogakure, the other half Amegakure, but some two or three hundred (as far as he could see) had no loyalty. _Mercenaries… even with two whole villages, as it seems they've resorted to hiring mercenaries. _Without irony, he realized that not four months beforehand he could easily have been down there with them. Not even taking those who could have been in the tents into account, he quickly estimated that there were easily three thousand shinobi below. Assuming that there weren't any more besides that coming, and the majority of the respective villages' shinobi had been brought here, as many as five _thousand _men and women could soon be after them.

_Damn it,_ Haku thought. _That's more than I ever thought there would be._ As powerful as this frigid land was making him, despite the near-insane chakra he felt coursing through him, there was no way he could even make a dent on these numbers.

He could use his mirrors to scout, but with that many tents to scan through, there was little chance that he could do that long before it was spotted by someone appearing or disappearing. _I suppose I might have to do this the old-fashioned way. _He smiled slightly as he planned. _It could be worse. There could be twice as many shinobi down there. _He shook his head ruefully. _Though that would only make it marginally more difficult. Now, how do I do this…_

He saw a lone Ame shinobi make his way toward him, not on guard, seemingly on patrol. _He looks about my size. Perfect._

* * *

Several minutes later, Haku, disguised in a slim man's camouflaged uniform, strode through the encampment, swiftly making his way through the tents and around the invading force. The unfortunate man he'd ambushed was now strung in the top of a tree with senbon studding his neck paralyzing him utterly. Haku had left him in his coat and trousers, not seeing any reason to let him die from exposure. If he could avoid unnecessary bloodshed, he would. His only target was Yagura; everyone else was simply in the way.

He blended in perfectly. According to an I.D. in the unlucky Ame shinobi's pocket, he was now masquerading as Tokihori Kenichi, Chuunin, and member of Ame's gardening club. _Why would that information be on his identification? _Haku had wondered idly as he put it away. Shrugging off the self-imposed question, he delved on into enemy territory.

The camp was easily the size of a small city or a medium-sized town. Three thousand men and tents took up quite a bit of space. Evidence of preparations for an extended offensive campaign showed here and there—semi-permanent structures, such as food stands, latrines, and sturdy medical tents occupied designated sectors. Unfortunately, there were no signposts erected in the makeshift paths between tents to help point him to his quarry; every tent was the same blank white color, none individually stood out (save for the medical tents), and pretty much everyone of a village was dressed in combat gear. The Oto-nin, almost to the man, were garbed in the black/camo combination the shinobi he'd crossed in the forest, and although accounting a bit more for individuality, most Ame-nin had the same basic light tan jumpsuit/gas mask ensemble convenient for aquatic warfare.

_This is quite a scene, _Haku thought, concentrating on remaining inconspicuous and trying to piece together a picture of the whole place. _If these numbers are right, then the entire sum of two villages have been mobilized to attack the summit and capture the jinchūriki. I don't think there has ever been a single battle with this many soldiers on one side of the fight. Against seven jinchūriki, five Kage, a handful of some of the stronger shinobi, and seven hundred or so samurai… this Madara must have quite a few irons in the fire to be able to pull this off._ He shook his head, self-consciously. _No matter how strong they are, there is no way so few people can stand in the face of this kind of army._

_Naruto's plan is a good one, and it could even work. Nonetheless, its chances of success are slim at best. All of these people could die… _He shook his head. _No. I cannot allow myself to be distracted. For better or worse, this is the path that fate has laid out for them. _He narrowed his eyes and glanced around rapidly. _Now, I must fine mine._

For quite some time, he wandered aimlessly through the camp, though he tried to at least look as if he had a set destination. He avoided places that looked as if they were populated solely Oto-nin and tried to blend in as much as he could. Without any signs or distinctive landmarks guiding him, he had to keep his wits about him.

_This can't keep on, _he thought with frustration. _Unless I find something to point my way soon, I'll have to leave. _It was a struggle, even for him, to keep his composure. Nobody around from either village cast him a sidelong glance, and yet he still felt as if he was under constant scrutiny. Paranoia began creeping into his psyche as his eyes darted left and right. _Come on! What did Zabuza-sama say about this situation? "Always act as if you belong. If questioned, give a convincing enough lie to bluff your way through. If worst comes to worst, make an escape with a minimum of fuss. There is zero chance you can escape unnoticed, but always remember: while you're running, their main focus is not to capture you, but to kill you. Your back is your most vulnerable blind spot."_

He gritted his teeth. _I've been here too long. This was a fool's errand. I truly thought that _I _could do this alone. _He made as if to turn right at a cross-section of tent clusters—

And got knocked down on his ass. He looked up to see a man in black robes emblazoned with red clouds staring down at him. He was tall, though not extraordinarily so, and had a demeanor that radiated menace. Pupilless green eyes glared at him, striking a chord of fear in his body. His mouth was covered by a mask, as was his head. The only part of his face exposed to the world was the area between his eyebrows and the tip of his nose. He growled at Haku. "Watch where you're going, trash," he barked. "I'm not in a good mood."

Haku leapt to his feet. "Apologies," he said hastily. _These robes… he must be with Akatsuki. _"Forgive me, please." He turned to walk away, hastily getting out of the terrorist's way. The killing intent from him had spiked for a brief second; if Haku hadn't left, there was a _very _good chance that he would have been attacked.

_This could be the break I've been waiting for! _he said to himself. _If he is with Akatsuki, there's every chance that he could rendezvous with whoever's in charge here… perhaps even take me to Madara himself! And wherever Madara is… _He steeled his resolve. _Wherever Madara is, so there is Yagura. _

That did it. He would double back, find that masked man, and follow him until he found a better lead. Whether that was a smart idea or not didn't matter at all. _Now, all I have to do is—_He turned a corner, but out of the corner of his eye he saw the man he had bumped into _just behind him. _

His blood, unironically, ran cold. _Damn it! This must have been the way he was heading! _He somehow kept his composure. _Don't act surprised. Don't draw attention to yourself. Act natural. _At the next intersection, he took a left, leading to the eastern side of the camp. He kept in that direction for a few moments, then turned right. With a quick glance behind him, he confirmed his fears: without a doubt, the man was on his tail. _Damn it. Is my cover blown? _He looked to either side for a spot to dodge his pursuer. After traveling three "blocks" he flattened himself to a tent's outside wall, gathering a few wary glances from several surrounding shinobi. _This is not good. Now I'm conspicuous. _

He held his breath beneath his thin cotton mask. He counted the seconds he estimated that the man was behind him. _…four, five, six… He should be here by now. _He let out a breath in relief. _Good, he's not— _The man then rounded the corner and glared down at Haku. _Oh. Dear._

"Just what in the hell do you think you're trying to pull, kid?" he growled.

Haku gulped. _Stay in character… _"I-I'm not trying to pull anything!" he stammered, (mostly) for show. "Why're you following me?"

The man took a step closer to Haku. A faint aroma of formaldehyde or some other preservative emanated from his body, this close up. "Me? Follow _you_?" He laughed with a rasp. "You're the one staying ahead of me." His brows knit together suddenly. "Where are you going, anyway? There's nothing in this direction but officer's quarters for the Oto-nin. You're Ame."

"I—I'm just delivering a message!" Haku said. "To—to Orochimaru-sama!"

The man scowled. "Orochimaru? That bastard? What kind of message could you be giving him?"

Haku thought quickly. "I don't know what it's about, I was just told to tell him that what he asked for has arrived. I don't know what it's all about, I'm just delivering it as ordered."

The green-eyed man grunted. "Is that so…" He jerked his head. "Come with me. I'm going to see Orochimaru right now, as a matter of fact. Do what you have to do and get the hell out."

Haku nodded nervously, his emotion genuine now. He had suddenly found himself up to his eyes in a situation that he could never have predicted. He had absolutely no desire to be anywhere near the legendary Sannin. But he couldn't walk away, not now, not when he was so _close. _

He furiously constructed the most believable lie he could think of as he followed the Akatsuki man through the camp. Eventually, they reached the far end of the barracks area, and stopped in front of a tent a little larger than most of the others around. "Here," the large man barked. "Orochimaru's in there." He jerked his head at the tent's front flap. "Go on, get."

Haku gulped and entered, to see one of the oddest arrangement of people he could have ever imagined.

Several men and women stood around the perimeter of the tent, though a few sat in chairs among them. A quick scan of their faces told him what he already suspected; nuke-nin of incredible power and reputation made up the framework of the Akatsuki. Many of these faces had been in his various bingo books—though a few, oddly, were entirely unknown to him.

In the far left corner stood Yagura. His posture was limp, unresponsive, just like a puppet. His expression was blank and unaware, dead to the world. He had, effectively, been turned off.

Again—The Mizukage, Jinchūriki of the Sanbi, slaughterer of entire clans, had been _turned off._

"Well?" the Akatsuki who'd lead him there barked, breaking Haku from his momentary analysis.

"Oh!" He fidgeted. "Um… Orochimaru-sama, I have a message for you. One of your people told me to find you and tell you that what you were expecting is here."

Haku's heart was beating so hard and fast that he thought any fool could hear it from across the room. For a half-dozen breaths, Orochimaru studied him as he leaned against the study canvas wall behind him. He straightened up, uncrossed his arms, and frowned. "That can't be right," he said. "The experiments from that lab should've taken at least another two hours to arrive."

Haku bit his dried lips under his rebreather mask. Orochimaru _actually was _waiting for something! What luck! "I'm just the messenger," he said.

Orochimaru took a few steps toward him. All of a sudden, the snake Sannin's oppressive chakra rushed over him. Haku made sure not to counter, keeping his chakras weak enough to look like he was afraid.

To be fair, he was.

"Who told you this, brat?"

Haku put his hands in the air. "I don't know, he didn't tell me his name. He told my commander, who told me. I'm at the bottom of the totem pole, nobody for _me _to shove this onto."

Orochimaru frowned again. "Well," he said calmly, though with narrowed eyes, "I suppose this means we can move our timetable up." He looked over his shoulder at Madara, sitting down near Yagura. "Satisfied?"

Madara nodded shortly. "Immensely." He stood up. "You all have your orders. Get to your posts, and gather your command." He glanced over at a red-haired man with massive facial piercings and the one and only Uchiha Itachi. "You two… stay." Haku felt his masked eye fixate on him. "You, too. Stay."

Haku's eyes shot wide. "Me? Why?"

Orochimaru chuckled darkly as he passed Haku. "Don't worry," he said insidiously. "If there's one thing to say about Madara… he doesn't play with his food." He left, with several of the other Akatsuki behind him, including the owner of the Samehada, Hoshigaki Kisame.

The massive shark-looking man, last in the procession, paused beside Haku at the last moment and leaned down and whispered into his ear. "I remember you. Samehada knows your chakra, and it never forgets." He glanced behind him. "I know what you're thinking, boy. Don't do it. You haven't got a chance in hell."

Haku looked into the swordsman's eyes resolutely. "If you know my chakra," he said slowly, "then you know why I have to try, chance or no."

Kisame simply stood and shrugged. "Your funeral." He ambled on out, leaving him alone with the leader of the enemy forces.

He was all alone.

Madara closed the distance swiftly and grabbed Haku by the throat. He lifted him into the air and slammed him onto the ground—where he exploded in a puff of snow.

Madara slowly rose. "So… it _is _you." He turned around to see Haku just behind the Mizukage, a kunai to his throat. "I thought I recognized your unique from somewhere." Haku could feel the man's gaze from within the dark hole of his mask. "You're the boy who accompanied young Uzumaki here… The last scion of the Miki." He took a slow, calm step toward Haku. "I can only assume that you're here on some idiotic mission of revenge, are you not?"

Haku inched the kunai closer to Yagura's neck. "Revenge… you'd know more about that than I, Madara-san," he said. "If you actually _are _Uchiha Madara, that is. Are you?"

The masked man shrugged. "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not," he said. "Does it matter? If I am, I have all of those old fools terrified. The monster from under their beds has come back to destroy them. And if I'm _not, _all it means is I have yet another advantage over them.

"But assuming that I am, indeed, Uchiha Madara, shouldn't you be a bit more worried? Facing me _alone _in the heart of my power is nothing short of foolishness. What exactly do you intend to gain from all of this?"

Haku smirked. "Isn't it obvious? I intend to take the Mizukage far, far away from here, and kill him."

Madara stared at him for a moment. "Hm. Interesting." He turned his head to the left to glance at the other Uchiha. "Itachi? Kill him."

"I wouldn't do that!" Haku shouted. "With all of this ice and snow around, I don't even _need _hand signs to pull off some of my jutsu! Take one step towards me and a mirror materializes in his heart! Don't you dare think I won't!"

Madara paused. "You're one tenacious little bastard, aren't you?" he muttered.

"I have to be," Haku answered. "A cornered rat is the most dangerous, after all."

"Hn. So I've heard." He turned his back on Haku for a moment, then turned back around. "You do all of this for your revenge. But… perhaps you don't know the full story."

Haku frowned. "Full story? Don't even try to tell me that this bastard wasn't responsible for the slaughter of my clan! _I know the truth!_" He pressed the kunai in his hand against the side of the Mizukage's neck, drawing blood from the lethargic prisoner. "He ordered and participated in the wholesale genocide of not only the Miki, but several others as well! He deserves to pay for what he's done!"

Madara held up a finger and wagged it. "You foolish _boy,_" he said contemptuously. "You are acting like a _child. _You're not seeing the whole picture here. You think that just because you've been wronged, you have the right to exact your vengeance? You think that you have the right to bring upon yourself the title of 'executioner'? Boy, you have _no idea _what's going on, or what happened in the past, or the hows or whys or anything! Having never met any of your clan, you think that they were some sort of innocents? You actually believe that they were _good _people?" Madara laughed. "Oh, foolish boy… you have _no _idea what sort of people your clan _were._" He crossed his arms and propped his chin on the palm of his right hand. "Would you like me to tell you?"

Haku grimaced. "You're mistaking me for someone who cares!" he shouted. "None of that matters! All I care about is—"

"You foolish _boy!_" Madara interrupted. "You really don't know, do you?" He shook his head. "You don't know…" He sighed. "I suppose you wouldn't, though. Zabuza-kun was always determined to hone you into a weapon for his own revenge. I suppose that's why he declined my offer, several years ago, to join Akatsuki. I'm not surprised he kept you in the dark."

Haku stiffened. "What are you talking about?" he snapped.

"A while ago," Madara explained, "when you were still quite young, I made your master an offer to join our cause. He refuted, saying his goals and ours differentiated. I respected his wishes, though I knew that doing so could come back to haunt me eventually. I knew, of course, that you were his apprentice, that you could eventually bring me no amount of grief… but… A man like Momochi Zabuza could not be crossed. You know that better than anyone.

"The truth is, your clan was one of the most violent, bloodthirsty group of people in this entire world, surpassing even the Kaguya in their quest for violence. In fact, it would not be unfair to say that it's because of them that the Mizukage perpetuated the genocide that nearly wiped out the Kekkei Genkai clans. Imagine, boy, the fear and mistrust that would have come from those who have no natural gifts who must constantly live side-by-side with mortal demons.

"It came to a point, very soon after the last world war, that Kiri shinobi were in abject terror of Kekkei Genkai clans. They'd gained a reputation of monsters, creatures of war that represented nothing more than the goal of chaos and murder. In their defense, not _all _of them were inclined to the madness of a bloodwrath, but _enough _of them swung that way to give them all the reputation. Imagine, _boy…_ people fearing you, not for what you've _done, _but for _what you are._"

Madara inhaled. "The entire country was beginning to destabilize. The government was uncomfortable, the various villages were untrusting, and the shinobi forces couldn't cooperate. Inside of two years after the war, it was very nearly at the breaking point. Your mother had left by then to seek a new life—don't look so surprised, Zabuza explained everything to me—and was able to escape the holocaust… for a time. But believe me when I say, as much as it hurts to admit, that the destruction of those clans was for the greater good of all of Mizu."

Haku's jaw fell a half-inch in shock. Why had Zabuza-sama never… never told him any of this? Why… why…

"You're lying," he forced out. "You're lying!"

"He's not lying," Itachi said, speaking for the first time. "Madara may be many things, but a liar is not one of them."

Haku narrowed his eyes. "And I'm supposed to trust you?" he said.

Itachi stood from the seat he'd been at and cast a sidelong glance at Haku. "I don't care if you trust me or not," he said monotonously. To Madara, he said, "You do as you will. This has nothing to do with me." He turned toward the tent's entrance.

"Itachi, stay."

Itachi glared at Madara's back. "You are long past giving me orders, old man. Stop me… if you can." He left without another word.

"Dissention in the ranks?" Haku snarked.

"Just a difference in ideologies," Madara coolly replied. "Nothing for you to concern yourself with." He hummed. "But the question is, just _what _do we do with you?" He glanced to his right. "Pain?"

The pierced man shook his head. "If I pull the Sanbi, his throat would be cut. And if I pushed the boy, the same would happen."

Madara shook his head. "Well, it seems that we're at an impasse, then. Boy—"

"You keep using that word," Haku interrupted, softly.

"Hmm?"

"That word—'boy'. I do not think I like it." Though he knew the dangers of staring one with a Sharingan down, he bravely glared into the one exposed eye of Madara. "I haven't been a boy since I was a child. Regardless of my age, there is one thing that you have to remember."

"Oh?" Madara asked. "And what is that?"

Haku began gathering chakra to his free hand, it closed into a fist. "Above all else, I am a _shinobi._" He opened his hand and flashed through a half-dozen seals before either Madara or Pain could react. Instantly, several dozen small mirrors, parallel to the ground, appeared in the air and shot directly at the opposing men, their edges razor-sharp.

Simultaneously, a man-sized mirror appeared behind him. He leapt backwards into it, dragging the comatose Yagura with him, to disappear to whereabouts unknown.

* * *

"Hey," Naruto said casually. He was atop one of the "heads" of the mountain, getting the lay of the land and preparing for the upcoming battle, when he spotted the remaining Iwakagure jinchūriki, Rōshi, sitting atop one of the "ears".

The short man looked down at Naruto. The bright pink outfit he wore was a stark contrast to the grey skies and white landscape. "Uzumaki-kun," he called out, his voice somewhat muffled by the wind. "Welcome." He waved a hand. "Come on up. The view's great."

Naruto jumped up there in a couple bounds, buffeted by the wind as he was, to sit beside the older shinobi. He crossed his legs and just stared out over the northern horizon for a few minutes. "What do you think?" he finally said.

"Many dastardly thoughts," Rōshi promptly replied. "Most of which are too harsh for ears as young and tender as yours."

Naruto couldn't help but twitch his lips. "_Rōshi,_" he admonished. "Seriously, now. What do you think?"

Rōshi sighed. "The truth?" Naruto nodded. "I think we're in trouble, son. On the one hand, we've got a pretty good defensive point here. This mountain's literally a fortress, and from all accounts could stand up to a pretty decent siege. But you saw what Madara did—he just warped in here like it was nothing. Normal shinobi, we could handle, but that…" He shrugged. "I dunno. With two whole villages, maybe, after us, it's not likely that we'll all survive. We could all die."

"But we're ready to die."

Rōshi glanced at his kohai. "Ready to die and _willing _to die are two entirely different things, little man. _Ready _to die means doing what you have to, knowing the risks. It means sacrifice, hard work, and a little bit of prayer for luck. _Willing _to die just means you're stupid."

Naruto gave that some thought. "Do you really think we're going to die?" he asked solemly.

Rōshi frowned. "Who knows? Your plan is solid, I'll give it that. If it goes without a hitch, it could all be over more quickly than we think. But that's the thing about plans—they rarely, if ever, survive intact with first encounter with the enemy.

"You know what we have to do if we really want to win this, right?"

"What?" Naruto asked.

Rōshi grimaced. "We can't just survive. We have to beat them. We have to hand them a grinding, humiliating, _decisive _defeat. We have to do whatever we can to _utterly destroy _them. Many of them will have to die, many more than we ever would have hoped. We seven, we have to cast aside our humanity and become the monsters others see us as. Do you think you can do that? Do you have what it takes to be hated by the world?"

Naruto snorted. "You're kidding, right? Look at me: I've been hated since the day I was born. I think that the rest of the world wouldn't have too much of an impact on me."

Rōshi smiled. "Well-said." He stood up, Naruto noticed, with a small groan.

"How's the leg?" he asked quietly.

Rōshi paused, then sighed. "I guess that talk about having all your father's memories wasn't just bluff," he said. He shook his head ruefully. "Remind me not to underestimate you." He shook his left leg gingerly. "There's some good days, some bad days," he admitted. "Today's a good day."

"If it helps any," Naruto mumbled, almost ashamed, "he didn't mean for it to be a crippling blow. He was just trying to save his team."

Rōshi waved his hands. "Hey, what's done is done. We were both doing our jobs, nothing personal. In truth, son, your father did me the biggest favor by bumming out my leg." He put his hands into his pockets and stared wistfully into the sky. "I was able to stop fighting. I was able to stop killing. After the war, I married the woman of my dreams. I've got two kids, a boy and a girl, in that order, and I'm the happiest I've ever been. I still take the odd mission or two, to keep my skills sharp, and I hone myself through intense training one month out of the year, but for the most part I'm happy just to be an old papa to my babies." A surprisingly warm smile crossed his lips. "That's what I'm fighting for, Uzumaki. I'm fighting to go back to my children, to make them able to live in a world where they don't have to worry about this silly little thing called 'war'. If they never have to fight, I'll be the happiest man alive. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Naruto nodded slowly. "I… I think so," he said. "You mean that having something to fight for, that's the reason to fight?"

Rōshi beamed at Naruto. _He really looks nice when he smiles, _Naruto thought. "Pretty much," Rōshi agreed. "Fight until you have something to fight for, then fighting to protect it, that's my nindo."

"It's a good one," Naruto agreed. "Mind if I adopt it?"

Rōshi shook his head. "You need to find your own nindo, son," he said with a smirk. "Find your own way through life. Don't forget, though, to depend on others occasionally. It's ok to rely on others for help. Don't… don't get lost. Understand?"

Naruto nodded again. "I got ya. Thanks, sempai. I've never been able to talk to another jinchūriki like this before. It's… nice."

Rōshi chuckled. "I suppose so," he said. "Let's get back inside, I bet those old farts are scrambling around even now getting everything in order."

Naruto stood and followed Rōshi down the head. "Yeah, you're probably right," he said. "Let's go."

* * *

The four remaining Kage had paused in the hubbub to sit down and discuss their overall strategy and division of responsibility. Suddenly, Sarutobi and Onoki sneezed at the exact same time. They looked at each other and frowned. "Someone's talking about us," Onoki scowled.

Sarutobi sipped at his tea gingerly. "Nothing bad, I hope," he said serenely, his leathery cheeks betraying a smile.

Onoki frowned. "Not likely. Nobody ever says anything nice about me, anyway."

* * *

A/N: One of my shortest chapters, and frankly, not my favorite. But I think I did a decent job at setting up the next one.

Not gonna say too much here. Please, let me know what you thought of it, ok? I actually really depend on you readers to provide feedback. It's only because of you that any of this is possible.

Take care. Give a bum some change. Pet that dog. Fall in love, have lots of sex.

~dead witch


	35. Clash in Iron! Titan vs Titan!

A/N: Yeah… Been a while. How ya'll been? Sorry, a lot's been going on lately. Finished school, moved back to Tennessee, got a job, yadda yadda… it's been really crazy for me. Kinda let up with my dedication to my writing, but life kinda kicked me in the nuts there for a while.

But, here we are. I hope ya'll like what I cooked up for you again. This is one of my shortest chapters—really, I don't think it even qualifies much as _that. _Meh. Writer's block sucks, I did what I could.

Review answer time! Bum bum BUUUUUMM.

**Aki666: Hope you liked what you read!**

**Xtrepe Nobody: I actually think I'm better at writing conversations than anything else lol, thanks bud.**

**Dragon Man 180: No worries, Roshi can take care of himself. By my reckoning, given his age and experience, plus the Yonbi, he's most likely AT LEAST at Jiraiya's level, if not quite a bit stronger. Yeah, those are shivers you're feeling there.**

**Shrumples: What'm I gonna do with you, man? Lol well, here's the chapter. I did what felt natural… so to speak. It is what it is.**

**Silver Warrior: This Naruto is constantly evolving, not only in skill and experience, but by what he's seen and what he's letting himself do. He has his limitations, he has his flaws, but in the end he's making the best out of the situation. All of that is building up to his nindo… but I'll save exactly WHAT that is for later.**

**Jediguru: Well, here ya go!**

**Konohasstar: I've read that from the greatest kindness can come the greatest cruelty. I think he raised Haku to be a gentle boy so that, when his blood was boiled, he would be that much more vicious. Hinata's ooc, yeah, but… Sorry, she kinda ran away from me here . Poo happens! Sorry!**

**Bored: Didn't ask ya to read! Thanks though! *Dousche***

**Shadowreploid: Thanks for having faith! Glad to make your jaw drop!**

**Dzk87: I'll deal with the Orochi/Hachibi thing when the time comes lol. Yeah, that bothered me for a while.**

**Lionasha no Bruja: Thanks for reading! Sorry if I took too much of your time!**

Special mention goes to Shadowreploid for being my Beta and giving me some good ideas. He let me bounce some ideas off of him, and I think it's thanks to him that some future chapters will kick ass. Thanks, man!

On with the show, peeps!

* * *

**Chapter 35**

Amidst the painful screaming of those who'd gotten hit with Haku's mirrors as they went right through Madara and into the shinobi camp behind him, and those who'd gotten splattered with shrapnel as shards of ice ricocheted from Pain's repulsion, said physical abominations left their tent.

Side-by-side they exited, one as stoic as always, the other barely holding in his rage. "Find him," Madara snarled. "Find him, wherever he is, and _bring him to me. _I don't care if he's alive or dead, you find that brat and return him here. I will take him apart _piece by piece. _You find him and you find the Mizukage. Him, I want brought back alive!"

The Rinnegan-endowed puppet looked sidelong at the ancient Uchiha. "You say that as if he is anywhere near here. You know as well as I that his mirrors can take him anywhere within a hundred miles or more in this land of snow. Just what do you suggest I do? Send my bodies six different ways and hope that he is sloppy enough to be near?"

Madara jerked his head at the red-haired proxy. "I'm not asking for excuses, Nagato. Just do it. _Now._"

Pain stopped moving and stared at Madara's retreating back. "As I said," he repeated coldly. "Just what do you expect of me?"

Madara stopped and turned around, the Sharingan in his mask ablaze with wrath. "Do not forget what we are fighting for, Nagato. We are fighting for peace. If I have to tear the whole world down to its foundations to accomplish our goals, don't think for a moment that I'll hesitate to do so. Do what you have to, take who you have to take, but if he isn't found by the time this battle's over, all will have been for nothing. We cannot afford to spend another three years biding our time, not at this point. We've played our hand, and they've seen it. Our time is _now._ If you don't have the stomach for this, if I cannot count on you—"

"Do not try to goad me, Madara," Pain interrupted. "I am above such foolishness." He paused, his Rinnegan staring down Madara's Sharingan. Two eyes, two sides of the same coin. Brothers and rivals, forever apart, forever destined to come together again. "I will search," he finally said. "But it means that I might not be able to participate in the upcoming battle."

"If that's what it takes," Madara snapped, "then I don't care. You're as much use out there as here. As long as at least one of your bodies survives, that's all we need for the summoning jutsu." He turned and stalked away, to parts unknown.

When he was out of sight, Pain raised an arm. An origami butterfly fluttered out of it to rest upon his shoulder. "Did you hear that?" he intoned. The butterfly flapped its wings twice. "Good." He looked to the south. "You search on the other side of the mountain. Take Zetsu with you to relay your status. I will look to the east, south, and the north. If they're within range, I should be able to sense their chakras. A fight between those two would be difficult to ignore."

Flap, flap.

"You know my range is limited. I may need to depend on you again soon. Go." The butterfly rose away into the wind back to its host body somewhere else in the camp.

Pain wasted not a second looking after it. An instant later, he was gone in a blur of motion and smoke.

* * *

Haku stepped lightly onto the top of a snowdrift as he exited the mirror. Before him lay the great and powerful Yondaime Mizukage, Yagura himself, facedown in the cold, bitter snow.

The silence was deafening. The wind was still, the skies were blank. Not a flutter of snowfall permeated the air. Again, for all intents and purposes, Haku was decidedly alone.

He walked over to Yagura and paused. Here, for the first time in his entire life, he had a chance to exact his revenge by right. Everything he'd ever worked for, everything he'd ever done, all of those hours and days and _years _of training had lead up to this single moment in time. For all of the bloodshed, with every drop of sweat, he had followed Zabuza and together chased the same dream. And now…

Now it was simply nothing more than an anticlimax.

With a wave of his hand, snow gathered behind him into a pillar of hardpack. He sat down and looked at his destined enemy. Many thoughts filled his head, not the least of which were the extremely unlikely series of events that had brought the two of them here. From his birth, this was what he was _meant _to do. For his clan… for his _mother… _

"You know," he said softly, "I cannot tell you how much I'm disappointed in you." He sighed. "All of this buildup, and… I really expected more. I expected some big, grandiose battle. I'd envisioned the two of us clashing, lines drawn, fire and thunder and raging storms. I had always thought that Zabuza-sama and I would take you on and kill you. Perhaps we would have died facing you, but perhaps not. Do you know how close we were? How utterly _close _we were to getting enough money to hire enough shinobi to overthrow you? _One _last job! Just one, and we could have unseated you!" He clenched his fists in anger. "Zabuza-sama thought of nothing but you! You, the destroyer! You, Yagura, the human genocide! You monster, you killer, you unrepentant _bastard!_"

He inhaled slowly, drawing a deep breath, then let it out. His breath turned to vapor, disappearing quickly into the sky. "I wish Zabuza-sama were here to see you," he whispered. "He wouldn't hesitate. He would have slit your throat at the first chance. But he's not here, is he?" He shook his head slowly. "No. It's up to me now. The Kaguya, the Miki, the Antos, the Sangu, and who knows how many others… I carry their vendetta on my shoulders." He stood up, letting the pillar of snow to collapse. "I don't know if you're aware or not. Maybe you are; maybe you're only playing opossum. Are you?" He kicked some snow on top of Yagura's head. "Are you in there, _Mizukage-sama? _Is there some semblance of life in that cold, empty shell of yours? I hope so. I hope you're locked in there, cold and alone, trapped in your own head. I hope that you are screaming to yourself the instant you know you're going to die. Maybe then, you'll understand just what this all means to me."

He stepped backwards and began gathering chakra into his hands. "This is the only death that I can think of that is befitting of one such as yourself, Mizukage." He slowly began moving his hands, envisioning what he desired. Snow began to gather beneath Yagura and formed a mound, pushing him about five feet into the air. Constructs of ice shackled his wrists, and a frame rose, connecting to them, pulling him by his arms into the air. For a second, he hung limply, before his ankles were snatched by ice as well, strung to the bottom of the frame.

In the end, what could only be described as a torture rack suspended the Mizukage three feet off of the ground. "Are you there, Mizukage?" He said. He walked to the rack, and was propelled upwards by a short column of ice and snow until he was at eye level. "Do you see me? Do you recognize me? My eyes, my lips, my ears… do I bear any resemblance at all to my kin? Is this the face you saw when you slaughtered the Miki?" He closed his eyes and grimaced. "I hope so," he said. "It would be appropriate, wouldn't it? For this to be the last face you see?" He held his hands in front of him, one palm over the other. "Oh, I hope you're aware for this. Locked inside your head, as powerful as you are…" He shook his head. "I'm talking too much. Zabuza-sama always said I needed to stop that." He clapped his hands together, forming the chakra he needed. "I'm done talking. Get ready for the pain."

His hands flared blue with chakra, and for just a second, he hesitated. He then slowly separated his hands…

And the struts holding Yagura's arms and legs mobile began shrinking. "Do you feel that," he asked the expressionless jinchūriki. "Does this register?" He moved his hands away from each other one more inch, shrinking the ice by the same margin. "Does this _hurt?_" Another inch, and Haku could see the physical strain Yagura's body was under. "I hope it does!" he shouted. "I hope—" inch "that you—" inch "are horrified!"

Another inch, and Yagura's shoulders dislocated simultaneously with a sick pop. "That had to hurt!" Haku crowed. "What do you say, Mizukage?" he asked coldly. "Does it hurt? Well?" Haku couldn't read the Mizukage's expression, blank as it was. "Scream! Scream, cry, shout! _Die!_"

He jerked his hands apart violently, ripping the arms off of the Mizukage while the body fell to the ground—

And collapsed into a splash of ice-cold water. "What?—"

"I must say, if I do say so myself, that I have an excellent Mizu Bunshin."

Haku whipped around, forming a mirror just in time to intercept the Mizukage's staff. He leapt backwards, just ahead of thousands of shards of ice, into another mirror.

"My Mizu Bunshin are unique," Yagura continued to empty air. "I suppose that isn't a surprise, though, seeing as how I am a jinchūriki. We all have our own personal style that we develop over time. Constructs that I make out of water tend to have more lasting power than normal. Take, for instance, my Bunshin. Not only are they more durable, but can last indefinitely, and even operate from me without limit of distance. If I create enough of them, I can attack anywhere I wish. Why, with as much chakra as I have, I can even overwhelm entire clans."

Yagura leapt effortlessly to his left as a rain of senbon showered his position from above. He dodged around mirror after mirror seemingly without care, able to keep ahead of every ice-formed needle. Some he cracked with his odd flower-adorned crooked staff, some he simply avoided. His graceful dance amidst the snow was little more than a blur of motion as he cleared a crooked two hundred yard distance.

"Fool," he said when the senbon had stopped flying at him. "You think this is a difficulty? Do you believe this level of technique able to kill me?" He smirked. "You foolish child. I personally slew twenty of your clansmen who used this mirror jutsu. A child such as yourself poses no difficulty." He stabbed his staff into the snow and flew through hand signs. "**Tajuu: Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu.**" No less than a hundred or so clones of the Mizukage, staff included, formed around him. "I suppose it's time for you to know how your clan died. It went a little something like this." He raised his hands above his head and snapped his fingers. Instantly, the clones sprang into action, rushing out in all directions, using their staffs to stir up any piles of snow large enough to hide Haku.

"Now, I know you could be in any one of your mirrors," Yagura continued. "But I don't think so. You'd expect that. Instead, you're probably biding your time somewhere in the landscape, hoping to catch me off guard." In a flurry of snow torn asunder, the very air began to become thick with floating powder. "I'll do you a favor and tell you what you're planning to do next. You will materialize the snow around me into a mirror and attack from my blind spot." He whirled around and struck the mirror with his staff, catching a glimpse of Haku in it before it shattered. "Next, you'll use those fragments to attack me, similar to what you do with your senbon, but in a less-orderly scale." He slid to the side, avoiding every shard of mirror.

"You must see that you have no chance against me by now," he said. "Give it up before you get hurt. I'm not saying that I don't want to kill you, but fighting you is simply a waste of my time. I've already beaten everything you can throw at me. What more do you expect you'll be able to do?"

An instant after his last word, the snow about him formed into spikes and skewered through his chest at different angles. He melted into water again—another Mizu Bunshin. "Same old tricks," Yagura muttered from a tree branch. "How dull." He gazed out over the landscape. There was little, in fact, to see. Nothing but trees, snowy field, and mountains in the distance was in sight. He was unable to sense Haku's chakra, but unless he was within a few dozen feet, he wouldn't be able to anyway.

_Hm. Not that he is any real threat, but… this rat must be exterminated. How should I go about this…_ A slow, dangerous smile ran across his face. _I know… _He hopped off of the branch and crouched down, placing his palms onto the snow. _It has been quite some time since I have had a chance to use _this _technique. _He concentrated for a few seconds, gathering chakra to the seal on his right bicep—

In a flash, he was surrounded by an azure cloak of chakra from head to toe, three tails in the shape of tentacles waving around behind him. His eyes were replaced by blank white voids, his mouth had become a gaping hole, and his right eye had been forced closed. His left, however, was wide open and red as fire. He charged up his chakra, opened his mouth—and rolled to his left as spike after spike of ice chased him through the treeline, dozens at a time, from every angle imaginable, trying to catch him off guard. When he leapt into the trees, the spikes grew and changed direction, moving faster and faster, much more quickly than they had before he had transformed. _Where did this come from? _He jumped from treetop to treetop, branch to branch, all of which was demolished in his wake. He couldn't stop moving, he had to keep moving or else those spikes would catch up with him

With a swift glance backwards, he saw an almost endless field of spires and fallen trees behind him. _That thrice-damned clone!_ _How could he summon so much power? Where does it all come from? Before he was barely competent, but now he's on another level altogether! How—?_

That instant of distraction was what Haku had been counting on. Before Yagura could react, a mirror formed in front of him. He hit it—

Passed through it—

And shot out—

Into the _sky._

His momentum carried him straight upwards, as the mirror was flat on the ground, for several dozen feet before he stalled. Before he could react, a mirror appeared both in front of him and behind him. Hundreds of iced senbon peppered his cloaked body, the impact of each and every one from such a close proximity doing extreme concussive damage. Though none pierced his shield, he still felt the pain of the blows. He grit his teeth and managed to not cry out, but just barely. Those hundreds of senbon hit him in the space of two seconds, if _that._

He was hurt.

He was angry.

As he fell to the ground, he _let go._

In the place of the Mizukage, in just a few seconds, an abomination grew. The Sanbi, the giant one-eyed turtle, sprang from Yagura's body. As it fell to the ground below, it aimed at the sky, to the pinprick spot several hundred feet above its head where it saw Haku standing stoically atop a mirror. A hundred-foot wide wave of energy emitted from its mouth, ripping into the sky and completely surrounding Haku.

* * *

_That wasn't quite as satisfying as I thought it would be, _Haku thought as he watched the Sanbi slam into the ground at terminal velocity. The ground around it actually buckled and rippled about as snow and dust both bloomed into the air. _But I know that this isn't the end of it. Now… how should I go about this? What are my options here… _He looked up into the sky for a moment… and smiled. _Interesting. I don't know, though… is that possible? _He ran through some quick mental calculations. _Yes… Yes. But I need time to prepare. I can't do this quickly. _He charged chakra to his feet and fell into the mirror he stood upon, only to fall out of a mirror more than ten thousand feet above the ground. He landed on top of another mirror, though, and crouched. Wind buffeted him, and his hair was torn from its ties to fly loose behind him. His eyes were stung slightly by the cold breeze, but it was nothing that he couldn't handle.

He stood up and looked down. Just a few dozen feet below him was the top of the snow cloud. It rose and dipped like hills and valleys, up and down, without rhyme or reason. The pattern shifted every second as it was pushed by the wind, and for a few seconds, Haku let himself enjoy the chaotic artistry nature had constructed for him. _This has potential, _he thought. In every direction, to every horizon, he saw nothing at all but cloud. _This is more than enough._

He willed into existence a mirror beside him, flat. With a few one-handed signs, a clone of ice rose from it identical to him. When it was fully formed, Haku said to it, "Go down there and keep it occupied. Don't let it escape. You're tied into my chakra, and you can draw energy from the snow around you. Try not to get destroyed."

The ice clone smiled and nodded. "It would be my pleasure." It slipped into its mirror, which began sinking to the ground.

Haku watched it fall. _Enough talk, _he thought. _Here we go… _He held his hands into the air as if praying to the sun. He closed his eyes and concentrated deeply, slowing his breathing, gathering as much Hyoton chakra as he possibly could to his palms. _Focus, Haku, _he thought to himself. _This is bigger than anything you've ever created before. Focus… focus… focus…_

Slowly, something curious began to happen. The clouds below him began to slowly rise up and gather in the space above his hands. Wisps and tendrils of nearby cloud gathered and condensed into water, then ice. The more ice gathered, the more the clouds became attracted to him until suddenly the process sped up very, very quickly: In the span of a few seconds, all of the clouds within a mile had condensed into a chunk of ice above his head the size of a large boulder.

_It's not enough! _Haku screamed at himself. _Not nearly enough! _He pumped more chakra into his hands, and the effect was immediate. As if a god itself had taken heed, all of the clouds that he could see flung themselves to him almost as fast as the eye could see. The ball of ice doubled in size, then doubled again… and again… and again…

Haku's eyes were closed this entire time to channel ever ounce of his concentration, but after some five minutes of intense focus, he allowed himself to look up at what he'd done.

His jaw nearly dropped off of his face.

Suspended in midair less than a foot from his outstretched hands hovered a perfectly symmetrical ball of ice _at least _one hundred and fifty feet wide. He grinned warily; _this _was the result of a spur-of-the-moment plan? No way he could… could…

_No! _He had to! As crazy as this idea was, it was his best shot! He sent a signal to his clone to return, who did so after a few seconds. It looked up from its own mirror at the ball of ice. "Impressive," it said casually. "Perhaps a bit too much to be subtle, but impressive."

Haku nearly face-faulted at, essentially, being called a showoff by his clone. Perhaps that was how Naruto felt when he used his Kage Bunshin. "Thanks," he said dryly. "You too, good job keeping Yagura occupied. You know what to do now."

The clone nodded. "I do. This should be interesting. Same shape as before?" Haku grunted in affirmation. The clone again fell into his mirror. Seconds later, it appeared in the middle of the ball of ice. Seconds after that…

A deep blue glow pulsed from the center. Haku's arms trembled from the added strain of holding all of that ice up with his own chakra, but with his clone in its center he had a direct conduit to manipulate it with it was manageable. _Now! _He sent as much chakra as possible to his clone, trusting that it would be able to pull off something on this level. _NOW!_

The blue glow formed into lines on the outside of the ice in patters. From its front to the back, top to bottom, side to side… _IT'S WORKING! IT'S WORKING! I CAN __**DO THIS!**_ _JUST A LITTLE BIT MOREMOREMOREMORE!_

All of a sudden, it was done. The lines pulsed, throbbing gently. He couldn't believe that an idea as insane as this had actually worked, but…

It did.

"Let's… do… this," he gasped.

He leapt straight upwards, merging with the ice, traveling through it effortlessly until he reached the hollow core. His clone was there, its arms and legs stuck into the convex walls around it. "I'll take it from here," Haku said to it. "Good job."

The clone nodded at him and removed his arms. "Thank you." It moved backwards into the ice until it disappeared, becoming one with it. Haku took its place and put his hands and feet in the same positions the clone had occupied. He closed his eyes and…

_Crack._

Along the outer shell of the ball, where the chakra lines had formed, the ice began cracking. Slowly they pulled away from each other, separating like an eggshell. Chunks of ice and billows of frost vented, obscuring it entirely for a few moments. A cloud three hundred feet wide shrouded it, until it settled and was blown away by the wind. Finally, after all of that work and effort, the fruition of Haku's jutsu was revealed.

* * *

Yagura groaned wearily. While in Sanbi form, if he rolled onto his back, it could be difficult for him to regain his composure. Like a turtle, his only real vulnerable spot was his belly, as open to attack as it was. Now, usually he wouldn't have to worry about such a weakness—in all the world, there were few who could even force him into this form in the first place.

But that damned clone… that _thrice damned clone!_ He'd sensed a full half of the boy's chakra in it, more than enough to make it troublesome. As it was nothing more than a clone, it had been able to fight with much more abandon than even Haku. Dodging and weaving in and around its legs and tails, it had attacked his exposed weak points with unbelievably-large spikes of ice and obscured his vision with brief blizzards of snow. For over ten minutes he alternatively chased and defended against the clone until it put everything it had into one last attack, buckling his right arm and knocking it from the left to tip him over. "Humiliating" would not even describe the situation.

He used his human-shaped arms to rock side-to-side and, when he'd gained enough momentum, leveraged himself with his tails to flip over onto his front. On land, he was mobile enough, but with only his arms and the three tails, he was best suited for water combat. Back home in Mizu, that was easily achieved. But here in this land of snow, surrounded by mountains, with no lakes in sight, he was at a decided disadvantage.

_No matter, _he thought gruffly to himself. _In this form, all I need to do is hit him once, and he's gone. With this, the last of the Miki, his clan will die._

_At long last, that cursed clan will die._

Once he'd regained his footing, he looked around with his one open eye. Seeing nothing around, he looked up into the sky to notice something… unusual. Two miles up in the sky, the clouds seemed to be rolling inward, as if drawn with some sort of suction. A conical void in the skies had formed, suctioning all of the clouds like an upside-down tornado. _This cannot be good, _Yagura thought. He propped himself up on his arms and aimed his head at the cone. His mouth opened, he began charging chakra, readying for another chakra blast…

And was once _again _ambushed by the clone. It made the snow beneath his hands into slippery sheets of ice, making it impossible to keep the angle needed to fire into the clouds. Little by little, the skies above became more exposed as the clouds collected at that spot. For several moments, Yagura attempted to swat the fly that was the ice clone, but to no avail; whenever he got close, it simply slipped into a mirror and appeared somewhere else.

Then… it was gone.

_Where?_

He remembered to look up. There, just above where the clouds had gathered, in the middle of a blank blue sky, two miles above the ground, was a teeny tiny little glowing blue marble. Yagura couldn't make out what it was, though it was possible it was some sort of water jutsu, what with all of those clouds pulled in. If so, it would be the _largest _recorded jutsu of that type, save for Hoshigaki's legendary Daibaku Suishouha. But…

No.

No.

He looked on in horror as his biggest fears came true. The boy had mastered the one technique capable of putting him on the very same level as _any one _of the Bijuu, no questions asked.

The roar from the heavens called out in a heavy tone, promising pain and destruction with its rampage. _How could he have learned this? How? HOW?_

_Hyozanryu?_

* * *

Haku had never felt anything like this in his entire life. This feeling of power, speed, and savage grace, it was unlike anything in the whole entire world.

As the sphere cracked and crumbled on the outside, he concentrated on merging his chakras with the construct as a whole. He checked and double-checked the structural integrity of it, reshaping ice and drawing minute portions from other sections to compensate for balance. In the end, though near the very last second he could have possibly changed it, it reached the exact state of perfection that he knew it had to be.

Slowly… slowly… outside sections unfurled and spread out. A length here, a length there, a wing—

Wings and limbs spread out as its mouth opened in tumultuous roar.

The dragon called out its war cry.

The power coursing through Haku was almost insanity-inducing. Every inch of his skin was burning both hot and cold, a beautiful agony that he hated and cherished. In the small, four-foot wide hole that had been in the very center of the gigantic ball of ice, he leaned back in a frosted angular chair. With an effort of will, the ice around his feet and hands shifted to surround them, and instantly it was if it was no longer _his _limbs he felt, but the dragon's. Behind his head, a half-shell sprouted from the chair and enveloped everything above his lips. Frost seeped in and solidified into armor plate on his arms, legs, and torso, until the only part of his body uncovered was his mouth and chin. He saw all. He felt all.

He was jacked into Hyozanryu.

And not a moment too soon.

Another massive chakra blast burst from the Sanbi's mouth, directly at him, the instant he'd become one with his creation. With an urgent mental command, the dragon's wings pumped, once, twice, three times, pulling him up and just barely managed to escape the aqua-colored wave of demonic energy. He tilted his wings to pull himself away from the blast, then folded them in, aimed his head at the ground, and went into a dive.

From nearly two miles in the air he dove, seeing out of the dragon's eyes, quickly gaining speed until he hit terminal velocity. From the dragon's ears he heard wind whistling by; the ground was getting close, very, _very _quickly.

The Sanbi was charging toward the spot on the ground below Haku's dive, its arm-like legs and tentacle-tails pushing it mightily over the frozen tundra. Tossed dirt and snow formed a dirty mix in the air, making a white-brown wake behind it. It was a race that both desperately wanted to win.

When Haku was only a few hundred feet from the ground, the Sanbi leapt into the air, its mighty tails flailing uselessly behind, right arm cocked back to deliver a mighty megaton punch, its fist encased in aqua chakra. At the last second, Haku snapped his wings open, almost tearing them from their sockets from the strain, and flew _just _over Yagura's reach.

The Sanbi hit the ground hard, churning up the earth in a mighty furrow, digging the ditch with its shoulders and face. Above, Haku rose into a loop, up and up and upside down, completing the arc over the Sanbi just as it stopped moving. Before it could react, he caught the behemoth by its shoulders in his front talons and, with a tremendous amount of effort, lifted it off of the ground. He pumped his wings again and again to gain altitude; when he was a couple body lengths from the ground, he contorted his wings to barrel, Sanbi and all, and _slammed _it directly into the ground.

The shockwave from the impact left a crater around four hundred feet in diameter and some hundred or so deep. It landed on its shell-like back, on top of one of its tails; due to the crater around it, there was simply no way for it to get adequate leverage to right itself. Yagura, Jinchūriki of the Sanbi and Mizukage of Kirigakura, had fallen. And there was no way he was getting up.

The dragon hit the ground in a run, folded his wings in, and twisted his serpentine body to run in a short arc back to Yagura. He skidded to a halt before the crater, sending a shower of soil and snow to cover the beast. _So, this is how it ends, _Haku thought. He looked down at the prone Bijuu. _How… disappointing. _The dragon opened its mouth, reared back its head, and with a thrust a gout of bitter frost erupted, covering Yagura's entire body. Within seconds, he was completely encased in a foot-thick layer of ice. _Not enough. _More frost jutted from it, spraying the monster thoroughly, billowing into the sky hundreds of feet. For a few moments, the sun was obscured by the fog, even after Haku halted the bursts.

When the haze drifted away, Haku looked through the dragon's eyes at his fallen foe. The Sanbi lay entombed in a massive glacier-like layer of ice that nearly filled the crater. No sign of life was obvious.

Yagura was defeated.

Haku nodded his head stoically. _It is done, then. _He turned away from the monster below him, spread his wings to take off—

Yagura's massive right fist burst through the ice in a geyser of broken shards and grabbed onto the dragon's tail just as it began lifting off. Caught by surprise, it fell to the ground with a thud, and began scrambling to escape Yagura's grasp.

The dragon roared as Yagura tugged him backwards, pulling himself up and out of the crater. The rest of the ice cracked and shattered, falling off of him in great sheets to plummet to the ground below as he gained purchase and leverage enough to right himself until he was no longer on his back. He squeezed the dragon's tail hard enough to crack it, and with a mighty yank pulled off the bottom third. The dragon scrambled away, now free, barely managing to dodge away from another swing of the Sanbi's great fist.

_No! No, nononono! _Haku thought frantically as he commanded his behemoth to jump backwards into the air to avoid a sweep of Yagura's three great tails. _That should have—_

The Sanbi's fist crunched against the dragon's midsection, its impact lessoned only by the downbeat of its wings pulling it up into the air. Haku felt the impact, though, in his own gut. He winced, but he'd been hurt worse than this before. _I have to win! I have—to—destroy—him—NOW!_

He flicked the dragon's tail up and under him, catching the Sanbi in the jaw, knocking his head up toward the sky. He pumped its wings ferociously, plunging at the Sanbi's exposed neck, grasping hold of its throat just beneath the armored spikes of its jaw.

It shrieked in pain and attempted to crush the dragon, but it snapped its wings to its side and prevented the Sanbi from completing its grip. Its arms, though strong and armor-plated, were too short to reach anywhere vulnerable. The dragon's arms, however, were free as a bird.

Tightening its grip on the Sanbi's neck with its jaw, the dragon began clawing viciously at the Bijuu's exposed underbelly. The Sanbi wreathed and thrashed in pain and panic, but the dragon's grip and tenacity were both far too strong. Again and again it slashed and stabbed into the belly of the beast. The Sanbi again tried to beat on the dragon's wings, tried to grab them, but the edges were out of reach and the wings themselves offered no purchase.

It tried to rock itself to the side, out of the dragon's grasp, but its fangs held tight on the monster's throat. All the Sanbi managed to do was increase its suffering while the dragon tore more and more into him. The minimal armor plating on its stomach broke and fell to the snow below with sickening thuds, and dark red blood seeped from its throat, mixing with the bright red blood and bile oozing from its gut.

Finally… finally, it stopped thrashing.

Haku commanded the dragon to release its grip on the Sanbi's throat and, with a mighty shove, pushed the turtle again onto its back, its three tails crushed beneath its shell.

It didn't move.

It didn't twitch.

The dragon reared its head to the heavens and let out a triumphant roar the likes of which the world had never before heard.

Then… Haku felt nearly all of his chakra drain away. _N-no… _His chakra was depleted having all been used to animate the dragon. It froze, stiff, then began to crack. First the neck, just above the shoulders, then the joints of the legs and the tail. After only a few scant seconds, the whole thing collapsed onto itself.

Haku barely was able to create a mirror to take him away from the glacial rubble. He stepped out of it and stumbled into the snow before him, dropping to one knee. His hair undone, his clothes ripped, he'd taken more punishment than he realized while inside the chest of the dragon. Blood dribbled from his lip, whether from some internal injury, he didn't know. His strength was nearly gone, his eyesight was growing blurry…

But there was something else. Where the Sanbi had fallen, in the middle of a wide circular ravine created by the monster, lay the crumpled body of Yagura. Whether alive or dead, the Bijuu still, at least for the moment, remained.

He rose to his feet and advanced on the Mizukage, one unsure step after another. Step by step, he grew closer, tripping over rocks submerged in the snow and even over his own two feet. His right shoulder felt as if it was out of socket, and a harsh ringing in his left ear told him he might have gained a concussion. _Just a little… more…_

Twenty feet out from the Mizukage, Haku stopped. Gathering all of the energy and chakra he could, he formed his protesting fingers into the familiar shapes of the hand signs to summon his mirrors. One formed behind Yagura, opposite Haku. With a cry of rage and torment, Haku charged, running as fast as he could, using all the remaining strength in his body.

With the last ounce of will he had, he kicked Yagura square in the side, punting him through the mirror, teleporting him to the council room many miles away in the heart of Three-Wolves mountain, deep in the heart of Iron Country.

He began blacking out, but his momentum allowed him to fall into the mirror before it crumbled, just behind Yagura, falling onto the unforgiving stone floor. The last thing he saw before he passed out was a blur of yellow and black above him as he fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

A/N: I look forward to your hate mail. Review, please!


	36. Filler: Haku Loves Fū!

So... Yeah, I have a confession to make, people. I've had some harsh writer's block for this story lately, and it's been really slow going. Chapter 36 is being a real harsh one to write, mostly because there's a lot going on and I have to try to tie it all together.

As ya'll know, a while ago there was a chapter in which Haku and Fū kinda... got it on. I wrote what was supposed to come after it, but I decided to not throw it in. Well, this is to appease those of you who are getting impatient. This is basically filler, so please, don't read if you don't like that stuff.

Also, WARNING: ADULT CONTENT. Just sayin.

Review!

* * *

_**From before...**_

"My name is Haku," the ANBU boy said. "And you're wearing my kimono."

"Oh! Listen, sorry about that, but my clothes were torn up and dirty and I didn't have anything else to wear and Hinata said it was ok and I swear it was her picking it out not me and I wasn't touching anything of yours, please don't be mad at me!" All of that was said in one breath.

Haku waved a hand. "Don't worry about it," he said, smiling slightly. "It looks better on you anyway. I have plenty of kimono."

"Oh, thank you!" she said energetically. She jumped off of the couch and, before the Hyoton user could react, wrapped her arms around his shoulders in a tight hug. "I'll pay you back for it eventually, I promise!"

Haku stiffened; he _still _wasn't used to intimate physical contact from women. "A-ah, it's all right!" he stammered. "It looks better on you anyway!"

She pulled away and smiled brightly. "Thanks, Haku-kun! You're so sweet!" She took a close look at him, pushing her face bare inches from him. "And so… so… _beautiful_!" She turned around abruptly. "Naruto! Are all of your friends as sexy as this guy?" She twisted back around and hopped onto his lap, her legs on either side of his. She stared intently into his eyes. "You look positively… _delicious._"

"N-Naruto!"

Chuckling morbidly, Naruto got up and put his hands on Fū's shoulders. "Now, now, Fū," he said. "I _just _got done telling Haku that you weren't a bloodthirsty maniac. So keep your teeth to yourself, eh?"

"Wha—Naruto! I don't do that to everybody I meet!" She got off of Haku with a hop and sat herself on the chair's arm. "I only suck blood when I need to!" She looked sidelong at Haku. "I just mean, he's cute! No, more than cute! He's sexy!" She slid off the chair arm and into Haku's lap and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She whispered into his ear, "And I know how to have _fun._"

"Naruto! Do something!"

Naruto sat back down and put his hands in the air and laughed. "Hey, take care of your own battles! Hasn't the ANBU taught you anything? Where are you interpersonal skills?"

"_They didn't teach me this in intimate anatomy class!_" Haku hissed as his face reddened with a blush. "Wait! Where are you going?" He said when Naruto stood.

The boy bent back a little and groaned with the stretch. "I'm going shopping for dinner," he said. "I looked in the cupboards and we don't have what we need. I'll be back in about an hour."

"Wait! Naruto, wait!"

"You two have fun! Fū, you play nice!"

"Always, Naruto-chan!"

A vulpine grin was on Naruto's face as he left the house and closed the door. As he walked away, he could hear a single muffled words shouted from the living room. "_NARUTOOOO!_"

_**And now...**_

Haku looked up at Fū with wary eyes while she smiled eerily fox-like at him. "Aww," she purred. "You act as if you don't like me, Haku-kun." She pouted playfully and slipped off of the chair's arm and back onto his lap. "You might hurt my feelings, acting like that." Her body pressed against his as she curled her legs under her and casually wrapped her arms around her neck.

"I-I don't mean to offend," he stammered as her body heat slowly crawled over him. "I just d-don't think… Um… That we should…"

Fū sighed, and Haku noticed against his will that, though slim, she had quite a womanly figure. "Listen," she said in a more conversational tone. "I know we just met a little bit ago. I get that you might be nervous around women. Believe it or not, stories about you and Zabuza reached Taki a couple years back, and from what I hear, you're a really strong guy. I respect strength. It's the measure of a man." She leaned her head in and put her lips just a few inches from his left ear. "I like strong men," she whispered.

Haku swiveled his head to face her eye-to-eye. "I'm not that strong," he mumbled.

Fū shook her head. "Bull. Naruto respects your strength. He told me some stories about you. If he likes you, there's gotta be a little more than meets the eye."

Haku turned away. "Perhaps he exaggerates."

"And perhaps not." Fū got off of his lap and stood up. "Don't get the wrong idea about me, Haku. I know I come on a bit strong, but there's a reason for that." She crossed her arms and tapped the floor with a toe. "I'm a sensor-type shinobi. The Nanabi gives me an ability to tell what kind of person someone is from the feel of their chakra. Haku… your chakra is more pure than any I've ever felt before." She looked the boy in the eye and smiled. "I could tell before I spoke a word to you than you're a good person. A _strong _person. Don't sell yourself short, ok?"

Haku shook his head. "If you say so. But… even so, that's no reason to be as aggressive as you are toward me."

Fū looked him dead in the eye from her towering position. "Why not?" she asked. "Haku, like I said—you're a _good person. _Do you know exactly how rare that is in our world?" She threw her hands up into the air. "In our profession, the cold truth is that most of us are heartless killers! For the right price, we're expected to do things—horrible things! People live and die based on a contract! I don't believe in that system, not at all. I want to change the ways we live. I want a world where my children won't have to worry about death and destruction, war and horror. I want them to grow old and fat and content, to be safe. Haku, I sense the same idealism in you, and I've barely spoken to you at all!" She approached him, dropped to her knees before him, and placed a palm on his heart. "It's all here, as plain as the written word. You and I, we're the same. We synchronize spectacularly. Can't you feel it?" She grabbed his hand and placed it on her own heart and closed her eyes in quiet contemplation. "Can't you feel it?"

Haku blushed at the intimate contact with her chest, but did as she. He focused on the tempo of her heart, the rhythmic pulse of her life's blood. _Thumpthump.. thumpthump.. thumpthump.._

His eyes shot open. "Your heart," he breathed.

Fū smiled. "Like I said… we're synchronized."

"But… but how?"

Fū grabbed his hand from her breast and held it in both of hers. "When two people are meant for each other, even if only for a fleeting moment, the universe can conspire to bring them together. The unique chakras we both have—your Kekkei Genkai and my demonic chakra—operate on startlingly similar frequencies. It's even possible that your clan's blood had been blessed by the Nanabi in times untold." She squeezed his hand gently. "I like you, Haku. You're a good man. I like to think of myself as a good woman. Maybe… maybe give it a chance?"

Haku was torn; on one hand, he had been used to the solitary life for so long before meeting Naruto, living day-by-day on the run with his master, that even now he was having trouble acclimating to the social norms civilization required.

On the other… here was a beautiful and intriguing woman asking if he would like to get to know her better.

His mental scales instantly tipped toward the other hand.

"Maybe," he answered cautiously. "I don't mind conversation with you, at all. You are something of a fascinating woman, Kazeto Fū. Naruto seems to be very fond of you."

The girl smiled wistfully. "And I, him. He's a good boy. He and Hinata are perfect for each other." She stood up and leaned forward, placing her hands on Haku's shoulders. She bent down and touched her forehead against his, the tips of their noses touching, their lips a bare inch apart. "But I'm not looking for a boy, Haku… I'm looking for a _man._"

Much as he would try to deny it, Haku's baser instincts were beginning to surface then and there. Her closeness, her heat… hell, her _scent _was triggering primordial instincts inside of him.

He began studying her features. While not a classical beauty, she had a kind of hard attractiveness that appealed to him. Her strong cheekbones framed a face that looked as if it could bulldog its way through anything and everything in its path with nothing more than sheer tenacity. He respected that strength of hers.

Her image was nearly the polar opposite of his; the ANBU unit he'd been assigned to had dubbed him "Prettyboy" due to his looks. In fact, more than one of his new teammates had mistaken him for a girl. Before, while with Zabuza, he'd used his looks to his advantage on occasion, but there was no need for the charade any longer. Nonetheless… he took some pride in his appearance.

He needed to stop this before it could go too far, too fast. "Hold on," he breathed. "Just…"

Fūpulled back a few inches. Disappointment showed clearly on her face. "Too forward, huh?" she mumbled. "Damn it! That's always my problem! Rrgh!" She stood abruptly and locked her hands behind her head. "Gods, I'm such a moron! This is why I can't ever hold onto someone I really like!" She formed air quotes with her fingers. "'Proper ladies are supposed to be demure, Fū!'" she mocked in a nasally voice. "'Don't go looking for men; be subtle, and the men will come to you!'" She shook her head. "That's easy for you to say, granny! You had huge knockers when you were young! I have itty bitty titties! ITTY! BITTY!"

She turned to stalk to the stairs. "Sorry to have bothered you, Haku," she said with a self-deprecating laugh. "I don't ever know when to turn it down. Just—just forget this ever happened, all right?"

Haku was behind her holding onto her elbow gently before she could take another step. Fū had to fight her natural urge to swing at him; grabbing a shinobi from behind was _not _a smart move. "There's nothing wrong with you," he murmured. "Nothing at all." He slowly moved until he was between her and the stairs. "Fū-chan, you have a fire inside that appeals to me. I'm not going to lie and say that this is love at first sight or anything like that, not even. But I like you. I like your spirit. Perhaps we could… talk this out a little bit."

Fū nodded slowly, hopefully. "Talking is good," she said. "Talking is very good." She smirked. "But I still want to sit on your lap. You have very nice legs. Comfortable."

Haku laughed and sat down, ceding the desired spot to the girl. For the next couple hours, they talked of many things… their childhood, their upbringing. Their families. Haku told of his life with Zabuza, how they traveled for years place to place fulfilling contracts and chasing the odd bounty when convenient. Fū detailed her life as a jinchūriki in Taki, and all the difficulties that went with the lifestyle.

They talked about their fighting styles and their unique abilities; Haku was surprised to learn that she'd developed something akin to a Kekkei Genkai, combining her Fuuton chakra nature with sound techniques to make what she'd christened "Sonic" jutsu. In turn, he spoke of his own bloodline inheritance and the various ways the ice could be used. She was amazed that the mirrors could actually be used as teleportation devices and offered a couple creative ideas on how they could be utilized that Haku had never even considered.

They talked of food, of poetry, of war, of animals. They talked about their dreams and ambitions, of places they wanted to see, things they wanted to do, what they wanted to accomplish before they died.

Finally, they ran out of things to talk about… and realized that the moment that they had been building up to had finally arrived. "I guess… I guess this is it," Fū said softly.

"Yes."

"Time to find out if we're truly… compatible."

Haku gently grabbed her hand and placed it over his heart once more. "What does this tell you?" he asked in a near-whisper.

She closed her eyes and concentrated. His heartbeat, strong and regular, still matched her own. It was eerie how in tune their bodies already were. "It tells me…" She gently pressed her face against his shirted chest and thought for a moment.

She had already told him many of her biggest secrets, things that she had never before told anyone. It was just so damn _easy _to open up to him. It was as if he was the one man in all the world who really _got _her. And now, she was suddenly terrified that something would go wrong, something would go horribly wrong…

"I don't know," she whispered. "It would have been so much easier when I just thought you were a cute guy. If only you had been like all the others… been eager to jump in the sack…" She sighed softly and looked into his eyes. "It's always so much easier before you _care._"

"That is the truth in all things, I have come to find." Haku placed a palm gently on her cheek. "I may have a way to discern the truth, if you trust me."

Fū nodded slowly, reveling in his soft caress. "I do trust you, Haku," she said, leaning gently against his hand. "I don't know why, but I do."

Haku shifted, making the girl lean closer into him. "Close your eyes," he said.

She did.

He moved his head into hers, tilted it… and kissed her.

Fū was slightly startled by the intimate contact, the soft butterfly-like sensation of his lips against hers, gentle and reassuring and hot and exciting and so, so gentle that she could hardly believe that it was real. He held his lips immobile for a second before increasing the pressure oh-so-finely, twitching his lips against hers and tenderly slipping just the tip of his tongue past her lips.

For an instant, Fū was unsure.

That instant died when she found herself realizing that she was falling in love.

Fū reciprocated the kiss, pressing almost violently against him, a soft moan escaping her as she delved into the lip-lock and grabbed his face and ratcheted the intensity of the kiss to another level, mashing her tongue with his and nearly grinding her teeth into his. Suddenly, they were lost in each other, their heads twisting, their mouths vying for dominance in a battle that neither could win or lose or tie, a fight that had been fought by billions over the years trillions of times, though _surely _not a kiss in all of the history of the world could compare to the one that they now shared, _surely._

They broke apart, panting, faces reddened, chests heaving, pupils dilated in excitement, of the pure heat of the moment. "Does that," Haku rasped, "answer your question?"

Fū stared at him for a moment. Without another word, she orally assaulted him again, if possible, with a kiss exponentially more intense than before, simultaneously moving her legs to straddle his waist and pressing her torso against his, grinding her pelvis against his stomach and her chest against his as they shared breaths. Species were formed, galaxies died, and time stood still while they lost themselves in each other for a few precious minutes.

Fū broke apart from him, rasping with pure animal need. "I'll take that as a yes," he said unnecessarily. He grabbed her around the hips and pulled her even closer to him, kissing her again with bestial savagery as their chemistry synched gloriously. For time untold the rest of the world no longer existed; the universe existed to bring the two of them to this place.

She pushed away from him, her hands clawing at his chest. "Haku," she said almost calmly, her eyes dancing, "if you don't take your goddamned clothes off, I'll _rip _them off."

For half an instant, Haku hesitated… then stood up abruptly, Fū still in his lap. She wrapped her legs around his waist and clung on around his neck, kissing him once again, while he pulled at the hem of his shirt to rip it off over his head. She let go of him just long enough to let him discard the garment, then resumed lavishing him with her mouth.

Haku had not had much experience with woman in his time, and had certainly not gone this far with Mari… but in the male species, there are certain things that are preprogrammed, and sexual knowledge is one of them. His manhood had become fully aroused by this point, straining against his slacks nearly violently. His physical need for her was almost more than he could handle, more than he could keep in check.

He had to have her.

Supporting her weight by grabbing her ass (eliciting a _very _satisfied moan from Fū) he waddled over to the stairs. Taking the steps one at a time (no easy task with a writhing woman in your arms) he finally reached the top floor and, in due time, his room. He threw his door open and practically jumped over to his bed, falling on top of her, _still _kissing. He pressed his full weight on top of her, grinding the front of his pants against her, almost dry humping her through her kimono.

He would have to do something about that.

He rose to his knees above her, somewhat surprised at how dominant he was acting. Never in his life had he been in charge, never had he had the satisfaction of dictating the course of events. He… he _liked _this side of himself.

He looked down at her for a moment, simply enjoying the sight of her laying beneath him. She looked so beautiful, so savage, so expectant, like a tiger that only appears to be tame. There was a deep hunger in her eyes that she needed him to fulfill, that he desperately _wanted _to fulfill. Who was he to keep her waiting?

He deftly undid the knot in the silk belt holding her kimono in check, loosening her robe and exposing her front in all its glory. Her abdominals were extremely well-toned, though not grotesque. Her breasts weren't the largest he'd ever seen, but very well-formed, pear-shaped and full. Hard dark nubs tipped them, quivering with every breath she took. She wore panties, but no bra. There was nothing left to separate him from her, almost nothing at all.

He leaned down and kissed her, more gently this time, but with a mew on her part he broke it. Instead, he slowly inched down, running his lips over her cheek, then her chin, coming to rest at the hollow of her neck. He kissed it, then nipped it, bringing an excited squeak from her. _So… she likes that, _Haku thought excitedly. He licked the spot slowly a few times, enjoying the shiver she gave at the alien sensation.

He let his tongue trail on down to her collarbone, giving her left side another gentle bite. Fū bucked her hips into his stomach, moaning all the while. Her panties left a wet spot on his front, betraying just how great her desire for him really was.

He pulled his teeth against her skin as he moved further and further down, softly caressing the curve of her left breast, stopping to gently suckle on her flesh before taking her nipple into his mouth. "_Hakuuu…_" she moaned as his tongue flicked at it between his lips. "Ahh… mmm…" As if nursing, he sucked it, vacuuming his lips around it, distending it, her breast mashing against his face with every one of her frantic breaths. He released it only to swiftly move to her other and giving it the same treatment. "Oh, _god _Haku, don't stop! Don't _stop, don't stop!_"

Haku raised his head, a thin trail of saliva stringing from his bottom lip to her nub. "What was that?" he asked playfully. "I didn't quite hear you."

Fū growled and forced his head back to her breast. "You bastard!" she shrieked in mixed anguish and euphoria. "I won't tell you again! I won't—_AH!" _She was cut off by Haku's teeth nipping her nipple. "Ah! Shitshit this feels so _goooood!_" She grabbed at the hair on his head and gripped it like a vice, again bucking up against him.

Haku was somewhat surprised that she would react this way with his relatively-demure ministrations_. If only this set her off_… He grinned wickedly. He opened his mouth more widely and engulfed her breast as much as he could, kneading it and molesting it with every part of his orifice.

Fū wrapped her legs around Haku's hips tightly, grinding her pelvis against his as the pleasure shot through her and into her core. Haku raised his hips slightly while switching to the other breast again and applied the same technique to it, though he found his inner animal screaming for release. Fū's hips raised with his, her panty-clad crotch rubbing against his slacks, against her most sensitive spot. When Haku lowered, they rubbed the other way. She couldn't hold it in any longer; this was too much for her. Haku repeated these motions slowly, again and again, knowing full well what he was doing, knowing that he was bringing her to a peak.

It was just too much. She unwrapped her legs, planting her feet firmly on the bed, and thrust her hips almost violently against Haku's. She shrieked as an orgasm tore through her. Haku caught that scream with his lips, kissing her, absorbing her, his cock straining against his pants, thrusting into her pussy through three layers of clothing, three damnable layers of obstruction. Something had to be done about that.

The instant she recovered from her orgasm, she flipped Haku over onto his back and mounted herself on his hips. Her heavy panting rose and fell her mauled breasts enticingly. Haku had to have them. He tried to reach up and grab them, but Fū wouldn't have any of that; she grabbed his wrists and put them crossways on his chest. Haku looked at her in confusion, while she smiled naughtily. "Uh-uh," she teased. "No hands, not now, anyway. Just relax… It's my turn to make _you _feel good."

Before Haku could respond, she bent at the waist and planted a deep, saucy kiss on him, abandoning any pretense of romance or tenderness. She had gone wild, it seemed.

Haku didn't mind; wild was _good. _

Fū rabbit-hopped backwards until she was only over his ankles. With a deft flick of her fingers, she unbuttoned his pants, unzipped them, and pulled them down all the way off in one smooth motion, taking his undergarments along.

She gasped in appreciation. This boy was _packing. _She grinned down at him. "Ooooh boy," she muttered. "Fū-chan _likes._" Haku's cock stuck straight up into the air, the better part of eight inches of glory vertical. Haku gulped as she gently traced her fingertips on its underside, from balls to tip, the dull edges of her nails scratching, scratching. "How the fuck did you ever convince anyone you were a girl?"

Haku laughed and shivered simultaneously. "I—_ugh! _never let anyone see me na—mmm—naked…" He hissed as Fū gently blew on the swollen head of his member. "Fūūūū… Stop that…"

Fū grinned wickedly up Haku's body. "Stop what? This?" She pursed her lips and blew more strongly, a tight jetstream of air aimed directly at the slit at the end of his cock. It jumped, bobbing independently up and down, almost slapping his stomach in the process. "You can't mean that," she growled erotically. "You like it, I know." She blew again, though more softly, incorporating warm air in her breath. He moaned; he couldn't take this for much longer.

Without warning, Haku bucked his hips involuntarily. Reacting instantly, Fū planted her hands on Haku's hips and forced them down to the bed. "Uh-uh," she repeated. "Just relax, Haku," she purred. "Just let little Fū-chan have her fun…" She delved her head down to his crotch and stuck her tongue out, slowly licking the underside of his shaft. She moaned at the taste of him; oddly enough, he actually had a flavor apart from the normal taste of skin: the faintest tang of mint came to her tongue as she massaged his supple flesh.

Taking her right hand off of his hips, she cupped his balls and started softly playing with them as she continued her long, slow licks. This continued for a few moments, Haku straining not to touch her while she touched him, Fū getting her fill of him. Eventually, she stopped licking and gently took the cock head into her mouth. _Mmm… Lollipop…_ Fū thought contentedly as she put pressure on it with her lips and provided suction. Precum leaked into her mouth, tangy and slightly salty.

She pulled her mouth off of him, a light popping sound escaping her mouth as she swallowed his fluid with relish. "Don't you pop on me already," she teased Haku. "We haven't even begun to get going yet." The strained look on Haku's face spoke volumes; he really had been nearly at the breaking point.

"S-sorry," he stuttered, his eyes and nose pinched. "I've just never… _hnn… _d-done this before…"

Fū grinned while licking her lips. "It's ok, baby," she cooed. "Everyone has a first time. It's nothing to be worried about. Now, just relax… and concentrate on control. Give me a little bit, then we'll get on to the main attraction, eh?" She took his cock back into her mouth and continued sucking, gradually taking in more than the head. Up and down her head went, slowly encompassing it, inch by inch, up and down, her short green hair waving to and fro with the motions.

Four… five… six and seven inches of his length disappeared down her throat. Its sensation on Haku's shaft, the external pressure squeezing rhythmically as Fū shifted the angle of her head to better take him in, were almost too much for Haku. He had to concentrate more than he ever had before for _anything _not to spurt then and there. In and out his cock disappeared , in and out, over and over, Fū picking up the tempo, faster and faster, pushing him past all barriers of physical pleasure in his soul. _I can't hold on! _Haku thought frantically. _I can—!_

Sensing Haku's desperation, Fū reached up and grabbed his cock at the base and squeezed almost mercilessly. Letting it flop out of her mouth, a strand of saliva connecting the two, she looked up almost menacingly at him. "Don't you dare!" she barked commandingly. "I'm not done with you yet!" While maintaining her near-vicelike grip she once again swallowed his manhood, holding it at a 45 degree angle and essentially pushing her head forward and backward, down and up, until she had it nearly-completely to the hilt inside her.

Once it was entirely inside, she let go of his cock with her hand and went double-time on him, her hair flying all over the place as she sucked and fondled and moaned and—

Haku couldn't help it. With a cry, he grabbed her head between his hands, bucked his hips up at her, and emptied his load into her throat. "_Ah…_" he moaned ecstatically, his cock still hard in her throat, still spurting sporadically down her gullet. He gasped sporadically, unable to overcome the physical shock of the violent release.

Fū slowly pulled her head away from Haku's crotch, he all the while releasing minute spurts every few seconds. For several minutes, she maintained almost-constant suction while moving her head up and down, his half-hard member like warm rubber in her mouth, neither solid nor liquid, simply in an in-between state of arousal. Even with such an explosive climax, her oral ministrations kept him from going completely limp.

Slowly… slowly… she finally raised her head enough for his cock to fall out from between her lips and onto his belly. A thin strand of saliva connected her lower lip and its tip, thinning as it stretched longer and longer in a slightly-curved arc. It snapped and fell onto the sheets with a light flop, stringing along his penis and balls erotically.

Haku panted, all of the energy seemingly drained from his body. He shivered as a quiver ran through him, the afterglow of the physical ecstasy. "Oooohhhhh," he moaned between labored breaths. "Fū… that was… that was…"

Fū licked her lips, swiping all of his semen from them and swallowing it with a little gulp. "I know, lover," she cooed. "But don't think it's over just yet." She smiled wickedly. "The party's only just begun. That was merely a warmup."

Haku's head fell back onto the bed. "I don't think I can do that again," he protested weakly. "You're just too _good…_"

Fū chuckled. "Maybe so, but that just means I'll have to work all the _harder._" She fell to her right side and gazed lovingly at his length. "Let's see what we can do with _this._" She delicately reached with her left hand and gently ran her fingertips up and down the twitching, slightly-shrunk object of her desire. She tickled the vein that ran underneath, gently and slowly massaging it for several minutes while Haku squirmed on the bed. She switched to his balls, fondling them and juggling them for a moment. "I bet you still have a few rounds yet left in these bad boys," she purred, blowing hot breath on them.

Haku's cock jumped a few inches into the air, now again reaching full length. "Fūūūū…" he groaned. "Stop it, I'm going to go crazy here!"

Fū smiled coyly. "Crazy? Oh, honey, you have _no _idea." She moved her head closer and gently flicked the tip of her tongue against his sack, once, twice, thrice, again and again, pushing and prodding and rubbing until his hips took on a mind of their own and bucked against her face. She dodged with a laugh and used her hand to push on his stomach, pushing him back down to the bed. "Not so fast, there… Let me set the pace." She abandoned her oral technique and, to Haku's surprise, stood up from the bed. She stood at the foot of the bed and ran her hands slowly up and down her body, caressing everything between her hips and her pelvis, lightly pinching her nipples with opposite hands for a moment before swaying to music only she could hear.

She turned and crossed her arms over her hips. Digging her thumbs under the hem of her panties, she bent down at her hips and sensuously pulled them down to her feet. Haku got a full view of her behind in all its glory, and realized fully for the first time that, though Fū's chest may not have been as large as some other girls', her ass was simply _gloriously _proportioned.

His jaw dropped, then he mumbled to himself, "Glory, hallelujah, and _amen._" He grinned stupidly. "It is _very _good to be me sometimes."

Fū smiled at him over her shoulder as she stepped out of her garment. "You like what you see?" she asked, mostly rhetorically. She ran her hand slowly down her ass, her fingernails scraping against her exposed flesh. She shuddered with the sensation, pure animalistic, primordial urges coursing through her body.

Haku nodded solemnly. "Oh, _gods, _yes," he breathed.

She somehow sauntered just two steps back to the bed, her hips popping back and forth, once, twice. "Do you want me?" she asked huskily.

"Yes."

Fū put her hands on the bed and crawled slowly up and over Haku. She gave his cock a passing lick as her mouth passed it, though in his excitement Haku almost accidentally pushed it in her mouth. She lowered her body to grind against his as she slid on up. Her breasts enveloped his dick, sinking them in between her petit mounds—there was no way to believe that his cock could disappear in between them, never would he have believed it, but it was happening, it vanished completely inside of her with her slow ascent.

Haku grabbed onto her shoulders and slowly raised his hips into the air, lifting Fū with him. His cock pushed on through her cleavage, gently jabbing her in the chin. When he lowered, it sank back in between her breasts, the sound of flesh on flesh oddly loud. He groaned with the friction, but repeated. Catching on, Fū assisted with the motion, taking weight off of Haku and speeding up the process. For a few moments, there was only the gentle cycle of thrusts and moans of pleasure. Occasionally, Fū would lock her lips around the head of his penis, producing a sharp pop when it left.

She felt Haku quiver and stopped the odd massage. "Don't you dare pop yet, lover," she whispered, almost menacingly. "I don't know how many rounds you have left in you, but we're going to take this one for all it's worth." She got up onto her knees as Haku, flushed, fell flat back onto the bed. A fine film of sweat had formed on his brow and hairless chest. Gods… he looked so beautiful.

She crawled sensuously over him on hands and knees, until her face was level with his. Her short green hair fell over her face as she looked down with excitement into his wild eyes. "Are you ready?" she asked softly.

In response, Haku cupped a cheek and drew her lips to his. He tasted himself on her lips, in her mouth. It was strange, true, but…

After a few seconds, he broke the kiss. "Yes," he answered. "Fū, I want you. I _need _you. Please… please. Let me have you."

Fū smiled at him and gently lowered her body onto his. "You want me?" she whispered into his ear. She nibbled gently on his lobe, teasingly, tugging and pulling with her teeth, flicking with a deft tongue.

Haku groaned again with the sensation, quite a new one to him. He placed his hands on her thighs and squeezed; she twitched in his grasp. He experimentally slid them up to her plump ass and repeated the gesture. _Huh… _Her glutes tightened, instantly going from soft flesh to hard muscle in half a second. With a smile of understanding, he realized that she _was, _after all, a shinobi, with the body of one. "Relax," he said back into her ear. With tender motions, he kneaded her, rubbing his fingers in random directions and with constant pressure. Slowly, under his care, she once again became malleable to the touch. "That's right… just relax…"

She moaned in his grasp and shivered. Haku felt the ripples of her muscles under her skin and smiled. He reached between them and, gently gripping his cock, teased her nether folds with its head. Her inner heat threatened to set him afire. "Damn it, Haku," she moaned breathlessly as his cock nudged against her clit. "Quit… mmf… Quit t-teasing me…"

Before she'd even finished speaking he had thrust himself into her in one smooth hard stroke. They both shouted out - the triumphant sound reverberated in the sparsely furnished, but elegant bedroom.

Their movements were full of urgency and passion. Haku's hair hung loose, and draped across their bodies as he slammed into her pliant frame. He slowed for a moment, his face etched with concern, to ask Fū if he was hurting her.

"No - don't stop - harder" was all she could say - her breath coming in ragged pants.

He groaned in excitement, increasing the pace and fierceness of his lovemaking. She could feel his teeth pressing into her collarbone as she dug her nails into his muscular back. Fū wrapped her legs around him - meeting his powerful thrusts with her own. Haku unwrapped her legs from his waist, and moving one thigh downward, deftly rolled them both over on the bed, so that now he was on his back and Fū was atop him. She laughed delightedly at his skill as she leaned downward to kiss his waiting mouth.

Placing her palms flat on his chest, she began to ride him wildly, leaning her body backward in order to force his cock to plunge more deeply in exactly the right places. He placed a hand at the place where their bodies met, so that his thumb would rub across her clit as she moved. His other hand was in the small of her back, pulling her down harder with each stroke. Fū was very close to coming, and started to say "oh god" over and over - her voice rising in an almost musical crescendo until she was nearly screaming from the wave after wave of intense orgasm that rocked her shaking body.

She fell forward onto Haku and kissed him passionately as the climax began to subside. Her thighs were aching in this position, so she whispered to him to help her move back onto the bed. Unwilling to remove his erection from her for even a moment, he controlled her movements - pulling one thigh down between them as he rolled her back onto the mattress. He waited for a moment, his hard penis still poised inside her, for Fū's breathing to normalize. She looked up at him adoringly, brushing his long, silky dark hair back and behind one ear. She was almost surprised as he began to thrust into her again, gasping excitedly.

Haku took hold of her knee and place one leg over his shoulder, enabling him able to penetrate her even more deeply. Now his penis was hitting her cervix with every stroke. She gripped his shoulders and ran kisses under his chin and down his Adam's apple as he moaned. She knew he was close to his own orgasm - so she began to speak into his ear in a low sexy voice.

"God you feel so incredible... I love how your cock feels inside me. Please, please come for me baby. I want you to shoot inside of me... I want to feel your seed inside me all day and remember every minute of how you're fucking me right now... Please, Haku, give it to me."

That was enough to push him over the edge and Haku shouted into her neck as he came. She felt blast after blast as he climaxed inside her. There was a fine sheen of perspiration on both of their bodies, their long hair mingling together on the white pillows.

He lifted his head, and continued to kiss her, now very gently, murmuring sweet things in soft, sweet tones to her until his penis gradually softened and slipped out of her. He fell back onto the bed next to her and they both stared up at the ceiling, utterly spent. Fū curved back toward him in an almost fetal position, and eventually drifted back into a light sleep, her mind completely at ease, her body feeling completely dissipated.

* * *

A/N: Yup, there you go. Another full-on lemon. Hope you enjoy. Now I can clear this outta my "to-do" list. Please review!


	37. The True Battle Begins

Hey, guys. Sorry about the wait. Got a job at Sewanee University in the dining hall, and the hours are killing me. Today's only the second day off I've gotten in about three weeks, and I'm tired as all hell. But I managed to sit down for a few hours today and slam this out. It's not my best work, but I hope it's all right.

Nothing much to report besides that. I have a slight cold, but nothing too bad. Job's going well, no complaints there. Got me a Droid; hell, I'm on its browser more than my laptop!

Review answer time! This goes out to chapters 35 and 36.

**Silver Warrior: Hell yeah, Haku kicked some ass! He was literally in his element. I couldn't have him go out like a punk!**

**Dzk87: Well, I'm assuming that he kept the "icy thingy" in the air the same way as he keeps his mirrors in the air: it's a part of his Kekkei Genkai. And don't expect Haku to be dispassionate about the other clans that had been massacred; he's fifteen and angsty. **

**Dragon Man 180: Well, we'll see more of just what the other Jinchūriki are made of eventually. For now, just enjoy the ride.**

**Frantic Author: Oooookay, here we go. 1) Haku beat Yagura by A: Being in an area with A LOT OF SNOW AND ICE. If he hadn't had that to work with, he surely would have been torn apart in seconds, and B: Using a jutsu in his Kekkei Genkai passed on down through the blood, quite similar to, oh, I dunno, the techniques of the Mangekyou? If that seems implausible, you're reading the wrong story.  
Hinata has Naruto whipped. If you're mad about the part where they were sparring during the Sasori/Deidara arc, they were using _basic taijutsu. _No chakra, no jutsu, nothing. _That's _how she beat him. They weren't sparring to hurt—they were sparring, just like any friendly partners, to hone their techniques. In "Rising Star", it's canon that Hinata has WAY better taijutsu than Naruto; he just has a LOT more raw power to put into it. If he had been using any of that power, he would have broken her bones, at least. DUDE.**

**Seeker Heart: Glad you liked :D**

**Rock 2161: Ya, I'm evil. It's kinda what I do.**

**Shadowreploid: Don't be too full of yourself, buddy :P**

**Twilight- The Moon Spirit: Honestly, didn't have the time or the energy to write a better fight scene. I'll try to do better next time, I promise.**

**Shrumples: Dude, glad you liked! But if I have to make a profile for you, I will. Get with it, man!**

**jediguru: Haha, maybe not, but it was all right. Glad you enjoyed!**

**Taichi-Doragon Tentei: I'm back, and here for a while yet!**

**Hinan Nightbreeze: Thanks for reading. I just can't but help do cliffhangers, though. Don't know why.**

**Arilitevixen: You're right, and no, it didn't have to be an infant, if what I've read is to be believed. But from what I understand, it at least has to be someone young, without fully-developed chakra coils. That is so that the young one can grow up and get used to the Bijuu's chakra without it overloading their system. On the opposite end of the scale was Gaara, who was implanted WHILE HE WAS STILL A FETUS. That brought us "Bloodthirsty Gaara". They used baby Naruto because he was the only one they could have possibly used; don't forget, they basically held auditions when B was chosen to be the Hachibi's jinchūriki.**

**Leo Vongola: Thanks for the vote of confidence, brother :)**

**The Elven-Spear: HOLY FUCK thank you lol.**

**Alethiophile: If you're referring to "Sturgeon's Law" then yes, I'd have to agree with you. And "Sanseirei" translates to "Three Spirits" the same way that "Sannin" translated to "Three Ninja". It just sounds more badass, I think.**

**Xarkun's Shadow: These fics are like anything else; you have to see everything, then pick out what you like from what you don't. Cherish the good, and forget the rest. I totally respect your views, believe me. I am trying hard, and this is definitely a labor of love.**

**Sleepy Milkshakes: Well, you're gonna love what comes later, I think. And, hey… I LIKE FLUFF THANK YOU VERY MUCH!**

**And in a blanket review of Chapter 36, I'm going to say I appreciate your comments, I'm glad you liked what you saw, and I hope you will continue reading. I know I took a risk when I wrote and published it, but I felt that it was something that really deserved to be there. That is all.**

**Aaaand on with the show! **

**Chapter 37**

* * *

"How's he doing?"

The doctor, an average-sized man with slate-colored hair looked up from his notes. He glanced over at Naruto and Kakashi, and frowned. "There's good news and bad news," he said in a gravelly voice. "On the plus, physically, he's all right. He's exhausted, but all right. There's some fever, but I don't think that'll be a major complication. Unfortunately, whatever he did out there to Yagura took a lot out of him. When we brought him in, he was nearly to the point of zero chakra." He flipped the page to the next one. "If we had been even a few minutes too late, I don't think we could have saved him. Now, though, I'm fairly confident he'll pull through."

Naruto's face was set in a grim cast. "Fairly confident?" he asked.

The doctor nodded. "Fairly, yes. Nothing's certain, but with enough rest, he should be able to move on his own in a few days or so." He glanced over at the IV needle poking out of his arm. "Until then, it's best to keep him under."

Naruto ground his teeth. "And what about Yagura?" he said slowly.

"Calm down, Naruto," Jiraiya said from behind the boy. He was unusually serious, his lips pursed into a thin, white line. "Getting angry right now wouldn't help anyone."

Naruto clenched his fists without turning around. "I'm not angry," he said, though nobody believed him. "I just want to know if he'll survive." On the other side of the sickbay, a team of medics were hastily closing wounds inflicted to the Sanbi host's neck and chest. When the pair had arrived back at the mountain, Yagura's body looked as if it had gone through a grinder; his entire front torso was torn to shreds, and his neck had puncture wounds that looked like they had been inflicted by some sort of ravenous wolf.

The doctor shook his head. "It's too early to tell," he said. "Whatever your friend did to him, it wasn't pretty. His jugular was punctured, his voice box was torn to shreds. He'll probably never talk again. Something tore through his rib cage, punctured his left lung, and entire pieces of his ribs are missing. Even with the help of your medic-nin here, there's nothing I think we could do to put him back into shape." He sighed. "His brain is oxygen-deprived from the sudden lack of blood to his brain. We're doing what we can to keep his heart beating, but…"

"But?"

The doctor shook his head again. "I don't think it's enough. Even if we stabilize him, there's a chance he'll never wake up. He's effectively brain-dead."

Naruto winced. Living like that wasn't any kind of life at all. All in all, it probably would have been better if he'd have been killed. "What about the Sanbi?" he asked Jiraiya.

The Sannin rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "It's said that Yagura's one of the only jinchūriki to ever gain complete control of his bijuu. If that's true, perhaps, even in a coma, it could stay sealed… but I don't know. When they're done, I may have to reinforce the seals suppressing the Sanbi, but that's worst case scenario."

Naruto cast his eyes down for a moment, then glanced back up at the doctor. "But Haku'll be all right?" he questioned.

The doctor nodded. "He's in better shape than the Mizukage," he said. "He should turn out all right in the end."

Naruto let out a heavy sigh. "Then, I guess there's nothing more that I can do here." He turned and walked out the door, Jiraiya silently in tow.

They walked up several staircases and down some halls to return to the conference room; the sickbay was underground, secure by several layers of security. Nobody got there without going through three separate checkpoints guarded by four samurai each. When they arrived eyes turned from the twin rows of Naruto's clones on the ground painting an extremely long scroll to them.

"What is the situation?" Barked the Raikage.

Jiraiya gave him the short of it. "Hm. This isn't good. If Madara gets in there, Yagura is ripe for the plucking."

Utakata took a sip of his tea. "Perhaps," he said, "this is for the best."

A growled. "And how's that, boy?" he said.

Utakata took another sip before replying. "Think of this," he said. "Had Madara not taken Yagura, or Haku not gone after him, he would have been used against us. If he turned on us on the battlefield, I do not believe we could have kept our composure for long. Remember, he had perfect control of the Sanbi, while most of the rest of us have a tenuous relationship with our bijuu at best." He looked A in the eyes. "As much as this may weaken us currently, this is probably the best scenario for this fight."

"And if Madara gets to him before the battle's decided?" the Kazekage asked.

Jiraiya stepped forward. "Leave that to me," he said. "I know seals that interrupt space/time jutsu. I should at least be able to hold him off for a little while."

"Do it," Mifune agreed. "Naruto, how much longer on your trap?"

Naruto studied the clones and their progress. "Not too much longer," he said. "But understand, this is an _enormously _complex seal. It'll take time to get it set up properly."

"Don't you worry about that," Moah, the samurai who'd greeted him and his party in the woods, said. "All of the kunai have already been placed, both inside and outside, as per your plan."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Already? Damn, you guys work fast."

Moah smiled thinly. "Never underestimate a samurai," he said.

Naruto nodded respectfully at the man. "I'll keep that in mind. Now…" He glanced back over at Mifune, who was thumbing the hilt of his sword. "Mifune-sama? Are all of your samurai up-to-date on the plan?"

"They know what to do," Mifune said. "They've been given strict instructions on where the save zones are. Leave them to Moah and myself. You just worry about your end of this war."

"Speaking of which," Rōshi said, getting up from his cross-legged position on the floor by the wall, "it's about time we discussed formations among the Bijuu Corps." He sat at a short table with maps and grease pencils upon it and waved the rest of his team on over. Gaara, Yugito, Utakata, Fū, Kirābī, and Naruto sat in order around it.

Rōshi had taken command of the corps. As the oldest, most experienced, and, perhaps for Bee, the strongest of them all, he was the natural one to be put in charge. There had been no argument against him. Every Kage, despite their differences, agreed that this would be the best course of action.

"What's the plan, boss?" Naruto asked as soon as they were all seated.

Rōshi grabbed several maps and a pencil and spread them out. "Here's the deal," he said gruffly. He put an aerial view of the mountain. "From what we know, the enemy's main force is five miles north of us. In this weather, they'll want to approach us as directly as possible, only dispersing at the last moment to get into their own formations." He drew X's on several points in the forest around. "Here, here, and here are where I would go to form up. The trees are thick here, we wouldn't be able to see them if they approached from the north-east. There, a natural fault line's formed up, sinking part of the land seventeen feet below the rest. If they're careful, several hundred shinobi can get as close as a half mile from here without being detected."

"What about here?" Bee asked, stabbing at a spot a bit south of west and a quarter mile from the mountain.

"The earth there is soft, easy to burrow through. I wouldn't put it past some of them to use Moguragakure no Jutsu to try to sneak in close. So, here's what we'll do." He circled three spots. "Do any of you have any explosive notes on hand?"

Naruto smiled, and pulled a scroll from his bum pouch. He opened it up and thumbed a seal. Several pouches stuffed to the brim of paper tags appeared on the table in a puff of smoke. "Will this do?" he asked.

Yugito palmed her face. "You really don't do anything half-way, do you, kid?"

Naruto shook his head. "Not anymore. After my last couple fights, I come prepared. Believe me, after Deidara, if something needs to be blown up, I'll make sure it gets blown up."

Rōshi let a smile tug the corner of his mouth. "That'll do," he said. "We'll have a few squads of samurai go and set traps here, here, and here."

"Wait a minute," Fū said. "Hold on. If these really are the most likely routes for them, wouldn't they have eyes on them? What if they ignore them entirely and come in somewhere else?"

"That is what we want," Utakata said. He traced his finger along the paper. "North, east, and west. These are the most vulnerable spots in our defense. By placing traps here, we accomplish two things: securing those lines of entry, and diverting their forces to where we want them to go." He gestured for the pencil in Rōshi's hand, and drew several dotted lines leading from the forest to the mountain. "If they fall into the traps, worst case, some will be dead. Best case, they'll all be dead. But we can't rely on luck." He rotated the map. "Uzumaki-san, your instructed the samurai to place those special kunai… here, here, here, and here?" Utakata marked off sections just inside the tree line.

Naruto nodded. "Here, let me show you exactly." He used his own pencil to indicate exactly where every kunai was located. In seven sections around the forest, including the place Rōshi thought that some might burrow in, were patterns of dots stretching roughly two hundred yards by one hundred. "This is where we want to herd them."

Gaara grunted. "Wait a minute. This isn't balanced." He pointed toward the south end. "This section is twice as large as the others."

"That's right," Naruto explained. "We're not going to have as many samurai there as the rest of the perimeter. Hopefully, whoever's in charge of the main Oto and Ame forces would assume that that means it would be easier to force their way through. Our main goal is to corral as many there as possible."

"That's not going to be enough," Yugito said, shaking her head. "It's too obvious. We need bait."

Silence fell over the seven jinchūriki. Yugito's words held a lot of weight behind the implications.

"Bait." Naruto frowned. "Shit." The seven glanced left and right at one another. Who would do it? Who would be the bait? Who'd be crazy enough to—

"I'll do it." Rōshi stood slowly. "I'm the most infamous of us. They'll send their strongest forces after me. If even two or three of their top-level shinobi get caught in Uzumaki's trap, it'd be worth it."

"No way!" Naruto almost shouted. "We need you to coordinate this so it doesn't turn into a clusterfuck! I'll take the whole of the south by myself. Just keep the samurai and everyone else out of my way, and make sure the clones I set up on top of the mountain are protected, and nothing can go wrong."

Gaara turned to Naruto. "How do you think you'll manage that whole section by yourself?" he asked.

Naruto grinned back at the pale, red haired boy. "Dunno about you, but I've got enough chakra, without even tapping into Kyuubi, to make a thousand clones _easy. _Trust me when I say, I can hold the line. _Believe _it."

Rōshi looked at Naruto for a moment, his arms crossed. Curtly, he shook his head. "Sorry, but no way," he said. He held up a hand to stifle Naruto's protest. "You're young, you're inexperienced, and it'd take more than a clone to manage that monster you created with your bunshin. We have to think with our brains, not our balls."

"Well, what do you suggest?" Naruto asked with a frown. "Do you have a plan, oh fearless leader?"

"Don't mock me!" Rōshi almost snarled. "I'm doing what I can with what I have!"

"And I know that any _one _of my clones are worth any ten of anybody else!" Naruto slammed his clenched fist onto the table.

"That doesn't matter!" said Rōshi. "We can't risk something this important on the most inexperienced shinobi in this room!"

"No, you're just afraid of me showing you up!"

Rōshi's eyes narrowed. "You little _punk._"

"You geriatric reactionary!"

"_HEY!"_ Fū stood from her seat and glared at the men on opposite sides of the table. "That's enough, both of you! This is no time to be whipping them out and finding out who's bigger! Rōshi-san, Naruto may be inexperienced, but you heard him himself—he's got all of his father's jutsu, and then some. He's got the chops."

"Thanks, Fū—"

"Shut the _fuck up_, Naruto," she snapped at him. "You're not off the hook. Rōshi's right, you're inexperienced. You've got no reason to be out there on the front lines in the first place. Just cause you got a plethora of jutsu doesn't mean you know how to use them yet. You need to listen to your elders, especially when they know better than you!" She rubbed the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. "Now, if I may suggest something before someone slips on the testosterone…" She looked around the table at the gathered jinchūriki, noticing the stares of pretty much everyone else in the room. "Here's a plan. We find everyone here who knows the Fukyuudou no Jutsu, triple-reinforce them with local binder tags so that they can't be broken, and place them inside of these designated areas. That should give us more than enough time to get our people to their posts _and _make sure the maximum amount of enemies are in the kill zone. No need to go wasting chakra on clones that could be used for other things. Naruto, you need all the chakra you have to pull off your surprise jutsu. If you have any other bright ideas, now's the time to share."

Naruto turned beet-red and cast his eyes down at the floor, chastised. "I… um…" He put his hands in the air in surrender. "I got nothing."

Rōshi smiled slightly. "All in favor?" he asked evenly. A unanimous nod around the table.

"Good," said Fū. "Now that that's out of the way, we still need to decide on our formations once the second stage is underway."

Rōshi grunted and nodded. "Right. The way I see this, we have a few options on troop position." He drew the overview map close to him and studied it for a moment. "Option one: We organize according to village origin. Gaara-kun with his father and the rest of the Suna shinobi, Yugito and Kirābī with Raikage-san, etcetera."

"But that wouldn't work out," Yugito pointed out. "Utakata's council were all killed by Yagura; he's the only Kiri shinobi here."

Utakata nodded curtly. "There does seem to be a flaw in your plan, Rōshi-san."

"Which brings us to option two: Organize ourselves into small squads of three and four and take the fight to them after the initial breach. The rest of them can stick together, and the samurai can take care of themselves against shinobi. We'd need to run positions by Mifune, of course, but I do think this would be the best options for all of us."

Naruto frowned. "Rōshi, let me see that for a second." He took the map, glanced it over quickly, then looked at another. "Hey, Mifune-sama, just how tall is this mountain?"

Mifune looked up from his own conversation with the remaining Kage. "Over a four hundred feet from base to summit. Why?"

Naruto shook his head slowly. "I just had an idea, is all," he said. "A really, really dumb idea."

"What?" the samurai asked.

Naruto thought for a moment before he answered. "Fū, I know you can fly when you transform… And Utakata, I hear you can get airborne too?"

The slim Kiri teen nodded. "I can suspend myself in a bubble if need be, yes. Why?"

Naruto smiled slightly. "How about this," he said. "Instead of two teams of three and four, we break it up into three teams of two, two, and three. You two take to the skies as soon as the skirmish begins, using your specialized jutsu to take out targets from the safety of the air. I've read your dossier, Utakata-san; I know how dangerous you are even without using any of your Bijuu's chakra or techniques. You and Fū stick together, backing each other up, making sneak guerilla attacks on those Ame and Oto bastards and stay well out of their reach. You both specialize in long-range, wide-dispersal jutsu. You're perfect for that post. If you run into any trouble, we can keep in touch with two-way radio headsets. Likewise, the other two teams can call you in if they get in trouble. With your mobility, we can regroup easily."

The gathered jinchūriki pondered on that a moment. "It might work," Yugito said, "but that doesn't take into account the skills of the enemy forces. What if we are overpowered?"

Naruto shook his head. "I don't think that'll happen," he said. "But if worse comes to worse, you can always use your bijudama. Even without fully transforming, you can still resort to wiping them out, right? It's crude, but effective."

Fū thought for a second, then nodded. "Yes, I suppose so. I'm skilled enough to blast away with a physical transformation instead of a chakra cloak, but… I kinda have a problem with my bijudama. I can't seem to focus it well enough for pinpoint accuracy. It's always a wide spread, even at its lowest power level, and I can't always even regulate _that. _No problem making it happen, but I don't want to hurt any of our allies."

"In that case," interjected Utakata, "why don't we modify our formation so that you focus on those outside of my range, preferably at the edge of their army, and I put my attention to those aiming for you? I can protect myself well enough, but it should be well within my ability to keep an eye on you as well."

Fū nodded in agreement. "That could work," she said. "But my chakra would disintegrate the transceiver. I'd have to rely on Utakata to communicate with the rest of you."

Utakata hummed. "That shouldn't be a problem," he said.

They all discussed strategy for another fifteen minutes or so, laying out the fine details of their plan. It wasn't until their proposal was nearly complete that Yugito asked, "Is it just me, or are we forgetting something?"

Naruto frowned. "I don't think so…" he said hesitantly.

Fū gasped suddenly. "Oh, no," she mumbled. "We did." She slapped her forehead. "Shit, shit, shit. We forgot about Yagura."

Naruto's blood chilled. "Oh, fuck," he mumbled. "You're right. Who's going to guard him?" He looked around the table, and most everyone had the same expression on their face. Yagura, the Sanbi jinchūriki and Mizukage, had no guards who'd be able to protect him in battle. With Madara's ability to effortlessly infiltrate the compound, it would be child's play for him to snatch the bijuu from behind their backs.

"Who's going to guard him?" Utakata repeated. "No offense to your samurai, Mifune," he said, knowing that he and the rest of the men and women in the room were listening in, "but I don't think that only a few of your samurai would be enough to hold off Madara and whoever else may come in with him." He narrowed his eyes. "We are all already assigned positions. Who can we afford to set on Yagura's guard duty?"

The room was deathly silent for a moment, until a chair's legs scraping on the ground made everyone turn to the left side of the room. "I'll do it." Under the banner that proclaimed his village's identity, Shibuki stood, eyes strong and clear. "I will guard Yagura and Haku-san, and I will protect them with my life. You have my word."

"No!" Fū cried out, shoving her chair behind her in her rush to stand. "Shibuki, you can't! It's Uchiha Madara! You can't—"

"I _can _and I _must_!" Shibuki interrupted. "Fū, I love you, but I have to do this! This is my decision, and mine alone!" He closed his eyes and bowed his head. "I'm not under any pretense," he said more quietly. "I know that… that I'm probably the weakest one here." He glanced to his side to see the other men and woman with him. "Kuigo, Saiko, Jūn… You go with Sarutobi and follow his orders. Don't you dare die on me." He smiled sadly. "What will your village think if you went out in a little skirmish like this?"

The Taka people looked up at him. None of them were much older than their leader, though they carried themselves as strong shinobi. But they just couldn't do nothing.

The one called Saiko stood. He looked to be about seventeen or eighteen, with medium-length hair so black it almost looked blue. A katana nearly as long as his body was strapped to his back, and what appeared to be a large drill bit hung on a cord around his neck. Bandages wrapped around his forehead and face, covering his left eye. "Shibuki-sama," he said, extremely seriously. "Don't take this the wrong way, and forgive me for talking out of place, but there's no way in hell I'd let you go this alone. Whether you like it or not, I'm going with you, and that's that!"

"What are you doing?" Fū barked at him. "Don't disobey Shibuki like that! He's—"

"Quiet, Fū!" Saiko snapped back. "Even using the Hero Water might not be enough to take on Madara! I'm doubling our chances of keeping the Sanbi out of his hands!"

Shibuki looked at him steadily, dispassionately, for a moment. He seemed to be studying his subordinate carefully. "You really won't back down, will you?" he said.

Saiko grinned, crossed his arms, and shook his head. "A real man never backs down from a fight! Just who the hell do you think I am?"

Shibuki sighed, but smiled. "You're Kazeto Saiko, badass leader of the Majuu Brigade, known far and wide."

"Damn right, I am."

Shibuki closed his eyes and rubbed his temple. "Guess I have no choice, then. You're with me. Kuigo, Jūn, your orders still stand. Am I clear?"

"Crystal, boss," said the woman, a fiery short-cropped redhead.

"Good. Mifune-sama, I need to ask a favor of you. Tell whoever's in charge of this place's infrastructure to divert all water pressure to the pipes surrounding the room the Mizukage is in. If my Suiton is going to be any good, I'll need all of the water that I can get."

Mifune nodded. "I'll see to it."

"Thank you," Shibuki said. "Saiko and I will go and see about setting up defenses. I'll leave the rest of the preparations to you for now."

"You think you have a chance?" Naruto asked Shibuki. "I mean, seriously—this is Uchiha Fucking _Madara _we're talking about, here!"

Shibuki smiled at the youth and shook his head. "Alone? No. No, I do not." He glanced over at his subordinate, and a small gleam crept into his eyes. "But with Saiko… maybe we have a chance. He's a Jounin by any standards, and he has a few tricks that can help even the odds. We'll protect the Sanbi and Haku… or die trying. I give you my word on that."

Sarutobi grunted. "You are a worthy successor of your father, Shibuki," he said. "He would have been proud of you."

Shibuki smiled, faintly and sadly. "Thank you, Hokage-dono," he said in a hushed voice. "I'm just doing what I know he would have." He looked over at Naruto again. "Uzumaki-san. You make sure that Fū comes back alive. Don't let her get carried away."

Naruto nodded grimly. "Done," he said.

Shibuki glanced over at Saiko. "Come on," he said. "We've got a monster to ambush." The pair left without another word or a single backwards glance at the gathering.

The room fell into a pall for a few moments. The collected Kage, Jinchūriki, advisors, bodyguards, and samurai looked at each other in contemplation. This was it, there was no going back. They were officially at war, and the first strike had been thrown.

The Tsuchikage floated into the air, a few feet above the table. Though short and quite wizened, the old man exuded an air of authority and power yet. "It is time," he said gravely and gravelly. "Those who know the Fukyuudou no Jutsu, come with me. We will set them inside the defensive zones that Uzumaki has designated, and use genjutsu binder tags to make them unbreakable. The rest of you, coordinate with Mifune-san and set up other defenses, in case the fighting gets anywhere near here."

Jiraiya stood. Though he was well past what most would consider the true middle age, he was a large, imposing, and powerfully-built man. His garish clothing clashed with the mostly-muted wardrobe of the majority of the party present. "I'm not what most would call a religious man," he said, "and I've done a lot I'm not particularly proud of. To be honest, I'm pretty sure most of us would say the same." He shrugged. "But now'd be the time to get any praying done if any of you feel like it, to whatever you believe in." He sighed and looked upwards. "Will of Fire, blaze my path."

To everyone's surprise, Utakata added, "Strength of Water, wash away my doubts."

Onoki snorted. "Force of Earth, crush my fears."

One of the young men that arrived with the Raikage's party, a dark-skinned, light-haired man with tattoos on each shoulder added on, "Wrath of Lightening, strengthen my resolve."

The most surprising addition to this little prayer, though came from the Ichibi Jinchūriki, Gaara himself. "Breath of Wind, guide my soul."

As if synchronized, all those from a shinobi village intoned, "Let our steps be light, our hands be swift, our spirits strong, our resolve as iron, our ideals pure, and our enemy everything we are not. Return us safe to our homes, our families, and friends. May our cause be just, our hearts pure."

Everyone closed their eyes for a moment of silence. When they had opened their eyes, Naruto grinned and slammed a fist onto the table with a heavy thud. "All right, then," he said. "Let's do this!"

* * *

**_Ten minutes later_**

* * *

Naruto sat in the middle of an empty room just down the hall from the conference room. As he steadied his breathing, his hands joined loosely over his crossed legs, and he calmed his mind.

He'd left specific instructions with Jiraiya; unless something urgent happened—such as the beginning of the war—he needed to be left alone. This would probably be the last time for quite a while that he would have to talk one on one with his inner demons, and he needed to take advantage of it.

He centered his mind, and felt that distant, cold tingling sensation that always came to him when he entered the mindscape. The incorporeal wind rustled through his hair and breezed by his ears as the room around him faded to black. His stomach rose in his gut as he felt his soul-self fall into the pit where the Kyuubi dwelled, imprisoned in the dank sewer of his binding seal.

Suddenly, he was there, standing before the great iron bars of the cage. Though illusion, the bars were still imposing as all hell. The scene shifted after only a few seconds with a small effort of will. There was no need to rub it in the fox's face that he was still a prisoner, after all. He created a forest scene, a grove of tall, elderly trees on the edge of a grassy clearing. Sunlight streamed past the occasional clouds below a sky that was perhaps just a little too deep a shade of blue to be real.

"Kyuubi! Sando!" he called out. "I need to talk to you two, now!"

Sando appeared at his side almost instantly. "No need to shout, pup," he said genially. "It's not like there's any physical distance between us. A mere thought could summon me."

Naruto sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, sorry," he grumbled. "It's just been kind of a lousy day already."

"I could tell," Sando said dryly. "Uchiha Madara, huh? That's a surprise and a half. We all had thought he had died decades ago." His face turned grim. "My host before your father saw his body himself. There is no possible way for him to be as strong as he claims to be, if it truly is him, and he is of sufficient age."

Kyuubi materialized in front of Naruto just then… and he looked _livid. _"Did you just say," he said slowly, "Uchiha… _Madara_?" The kitsune's body language was tense and tight.

Naruto nodded grimly. "Yes," he said. "I did. I take it you know who he is."

Kyuubi's eyes blazed red, as if an inferno had flashed behind each orb. His human-like face twitched, and memories flickered almost-visibly over it. "You… you could say that," he said, in a tone more calm than his expression would indicated. "Yes, you could say I know the mad Uchiha very well." His hands curled into fists, his red-furred knuckles turning white with his iron grip.

"Haven't you been paying attention?" Sando asked his counterpart.

Kyuubi glared at the Inugami. "I've been occupied," he said.

"Occupied?" Naruto and Sando said simultaneously, the boy with a raised eyebrow.

"Forget it!" Kyuubi snapped. "Just tell me what happened! What has Uchiha Madara got to do with this? Is he here? Tell me!"

Naruto was taken aback; his Bijuu wasn't one to usually get snippy like this. He told him, though, about what had happened, leaving nothing out. Kyuubi's expression, save for the part where Naruto had gotten taken out with a single kick, was stoic as granite. Even the point when the Jinchūriki pledged to unite against him and his forces didn't so much as deliver a twitch.

"Is that all?" Kyuubi asked in a monotone.

Naruto thought for a moment, then nodded. "More or less. That's all the important bits."

Kyuubi whirled around, the long jacket he'd materialized with him billowing out dramatically. He stalked away and paced back and forth, his mind seemingly ablaze with thought. His eyes crinkled, and his teeth were clenched to tightly that it seemed inevitable that they would crack.

He returned to Naruto, standing tall over him, and looked down. "Uchiha… Madara…" he rumbled. "This is not good. _Not _good."

Naruto was stunned. Generally speaking, in all the world, the Kyuubi was considered to be perhaps _the _greatest physical forces on earth, more powerful than an earthquake and more inevitable than a tsunami's devastation. If _he _was nervous…

"Kyuubi," Naruto said calmly, "don't scare me like this. What happened? Tell me what you know about Uchiha Madara."

Kyuubi crossed his arms and glanced over at Sando. "You tell him," Kyuubi said softly.

Sando cocked a brow. "Tell him what?" Sando replied.

Kyuubi's eyes narrowed. "Damn," he muttered. "I forgot. Minato took your mask off before the boy was born, didn't he? So you wouldn't know."

"Know what?" Naruto asked insistently. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"_You don't know,_" whispered Kyuubi. He closed his eyes for a few seconds. When he opened them again, the fire had dimmed. "Boy," he said. "You know that your mother was once my host." He glared at Sando for a second, then continued. "Did you ever wonder how, or why, I escaped from her?"

Naruto's eyes went wide, and his blood ran cold in his veins. He'd forced himself to not even think of that day. It was something that he didn't think he was, or ever would be, ready for. "I—n-no," he said. "That's the past, it doesn't matter—"

"**_OF COURSE IT FUCKING MATTERS!_**" Kyuubi roared, his eyes rising to crimson flame once again. His anger materialized in waves of concussive chakra, flattening the grass around his feet an instant before it turned to cinders. Naruto and Sando leapt away just in time to avoid being harmed themselves.

"Kyuubi!" Sando shouted. "Calm down! You could damage the boy's mind if you rampage! Calm the _fuck down!_"

Kyuubi's demonic aura subsided, but a thin layer clung to his skin. "No matter what you hear, boy," he said ominously, "the past _always _matters." He looked at Sando. "You know that as well as I." He sighed. "It would be easier to show you than to tell you." He held up his left hand, palm up, and an orb appeared, hovering a few inches over it. "This is what happened the day you were born, Naruto. Every detail that I can remember is here, inside of this memory." He tossed it over to Naruto, gently, and the boy caught the slow-moving sphere.

It was a matte black, dull and uninviting. The orb carried a mental after-thought of rage, fear, malice, and, most surprising, regret. There was nothing good or pure about the thing, nothing at all, and not for the first time did Naruto realize just how impure the Kyuubi actually was.

"What is this?" Naruto whispered, staring at the ball.

"This is a dream world," Kyuubi said evenly, waving the same hand around at the forest glade. "This here is nothing more than a representation of what you perceive to be real, a facsimile of reality. What I have given you will let you see and experience what happened to me on that day. For a little while… you will be me."

Naruto gulped visibly and audibly. "Um… is it safe?" he asked.

"No," Sando said bluntly. "But it holds answers, boy. As long as you keep your head, you will not lose yourself in the Kyuubi's mind."

"This doesn't seem like a great idea…" Naruto muttered.

"It really isn't," agreed Kyuubi. "But it is the best way to show you exactly what happened. Hold the memory to your eyes and focus on it. Everything will become apparent soon enough."

Naruto glanced at Sando, who nodded. Naruto gritted his teeth, then did as he was told. He brought to orb to his eye level, and put all of his focus and concentration on it. At first, nothing happened…

Then…

The room went black.

Ten thousand sensations and memories and scents and sounds and scenes hit Naruto's mind in a single instant. The memories of the kitsune, every one of them of that day, seemingly burrowed into his mind and stuck and clung into its crevices like prickly ivy.

In that instant, he _knew._

He _understood._

_Madara_

_Minato_

_Mother_

_Childbirth_

_The pain the pain thepainthepain_

_That Sharingan_

_The helplessness_

_The fight_

_The destruction_

_Murder_

_Murder_

_Murder_

_The blood the screams the screams of terror_

_The Shinigami_

_The pull _

_The black_

_The black_

_The cage_

* * *

The orb vanished. Naruto was stock-still, frightened, shivering, but… still. His eyes were as wide as they could be.

He'd absorbed an entire day's worth of memories from the Kyuubi, unfiltered, raw, and terrible. He saw and felt everything that the fox had done that day, what had lead to it, how he'd become an unwitting and unwilling pawn in the mad Uchiha's schemes.

Fear gave way _very _quickly to anger. Righteous fury filled his soul, burning with a flame he couldn't possible comprehend.

"Is that so…" Naruto whispered. "Everything that has happened… all of it… ever since the day I was born… it was all because of him…"

Sando looked down at his bearer. There was something worrying in his eyes. He'd seen that look in men's eyes before, just before they went on a warpath.

"Yes," said Kyuubi gravely. "It is. I was torn from your mother _the instant _you were born. She never had a chance to fight back. But the Uzumaki are strong, and she somehow survived." He looked down. "She was a damn fine woman."

Naruto looked up at Kyuubi. "We're going to get this son of a bitch," Naruto told him, his voice laced with acid. "We are going to _TEAR HIM APART!_" He looked sharply over at Sando. "Sando, implant everything my father ever knew into my mind, _now. _I want every jutsu he ever knew there. This is non-negotiable. I don't care if it strains my psyche, if it's important, I want it."

Sando nodded curtly. "Done," he said, though with a somewhat disapproving tone.

"Also, get in touch with Shukusatsu and Aoiryu. Tell them to tell Sasuke and Hinata everything. Tell them that we're in deep trouble over here, and in case something happens… Just tell them.

"Kyuubi, I need you to listen to me, and for once, just go along. Everything that any of my predecessors have been able to do with you—and I mean _everything—_I want to know. Every trick, every jutsu, every crazy thought, I need. I need full access to your chakras, and I need your full cooperation. There's every chance that I'll face Madara myself, and I need every advantage I can get. Do you copy?"

Kyuubi looked down on the boy. He'd grown so much since he'd become aware of the demon. He could see some of the same fire in his eyes as Kushina had once seen in Minato. "Just promise me one thing," Kyuubi said. "We don't stop until Madara is a greasy smear in history."

Naruto smiled fiercely. "Deal."

An hour—and, to Naruto's subjective mind, several weeks—later, Naruto walked out of the lonely room and over to the conference room to find it empty. Several of his clones had gone to work, setting up the scroll he'd had them working on at the top of one of the mountain fortress's "heads" and more had gone out with the mass of explosive notes to set traps at likely entrance routes not covered by his trap zones.

Thousands of new thoughts and ideas and techniques filled his mind. Much as Sando was a repository of his father's memories and jutsu, so was the Kyuubi for his former hosts.

Kyuubi had multiplied the mental processing of Naruto's mind over a thousand times over, and had held it as such for nearly the full hour he'd allowed himself. In his own way, he'd just spent eight solid weeks going over jutsu after jutsu with two of the most dangerous beings on the planet. The splitting headache he felt was worth the incurred knowledge. He now knew what true power was. He now knew what true terror was.

He now knew what it was truly like to be a monster.

He was afraid. Not of himself… but just how easy it would be for him to lose himself to his anger.

He could obliterate lives.

He could wipe out nations.

He could change the course of history itself.

It was time to put himself to the test.

To the empty room, he softly, steadily said, "It is time."

* * *

A/N: There ya have it, folks. It was what I could come up with at short notice. I know it's not as good as everything else, but I hope It'll do until I can get to the next chapter.

What is Naruto's ultimate fate?

What is his surprise jutsu?

What has he gotten from the Kyuubi?

What will the fate of the world be?

I guarantee you, none of you will be able to predict a _damn thing. _

Peace out, readers. Enjoy your lives, and adopt a kitten.

~dead witch


	38. First Blood!

A/N: I don't think Kishimoto likes fanfic writers very much. Thus, I would like to ask all of you to stop for a moment, take a deep breath, and join me in a jovial and vigorous "FUCK YOU, KISHIMOTO"

Ready? 1… 2… 3… "FUCK YOU, KISHIMOTO!"

There… I feel better, now.

It has been waaaaaay too long since I've updated. I'm working really hard now, and I'm loving my job. I meet a lot of interesting people, eat some really good food, and generally get paid to cook for about two hours of the day, chill for three, and clean for an hour and a half on top of a 45 minute paid lunch break and a 15 minute smoke break. Do I like my job? Yes, yes, indeed I do.

Is it exhausting? FUCK. YES. I've been so wiped out by the end of the night—I don't get off shift until at least 9:30, and usually don't get home till an hour later—that I just don't have the energy to write. The most I can hope for is to sit down and watch some tv, plug out a few hundred words, and hope I have what it takes the next day to slam some out.

Been doing that for three months now… and look where it's gotten me.

But hark! Here we are! Do the happy dance! Thanksgiving break is a special time for me. It's about the food, the family, the food, the laughter, the food, the Lions game, and oh, yeah, the food. I lurve me some turkey. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, and please tell me you didn't get hurt on Black Friday.

On an unrelated note, ever been to ? It's a really cool site. If someone could start a page there for Rising Star, that would be cool. Could use some more traffic on here.

Review answer time!

**Jjones987: Thanks! Here ya go!**

**Alethiophile: Again, thanks! Appreciate your kind words!**

**Dragon Man 180: I gotta say, that prayer was one of my finest moments. Thanks for appreciating it :) Yes, the battle will be epic. You have NO idea. Nobody's guessed yet what'll happen. Trust me when I say, you'll enjoy it.**

**Silver Warrior: Shibuki is a little badass waiting to be opened. He's going to get a bright and shining moment of awesome of his own. You won't believe how awesome the little guy will be. Just stay tuned.**

**Anon: Good catch on the Gurren Lagann reference. This is now officially a "super-Naruto" fic, something that I tried to avoid delving into, but… well, I think I'm managing well enough. Hope this is to your liking!**

**The Elven-Spear: Yes, Naruto will kick ass. Royally. With some awesomeness thrown into the mix. Blend, simmer until ready, serve with a side of OH SHIT OH NO HE DIDN'T.**

**Shrumples: You ok, dude? You type like you're on painkillers or something.**

**Aikori Shukrai: Here's what I got. I like writing tense situations, leaving things off, and not letting you guys know the full view. Don't try to get inside my head; here there be monsters and such. Even I get lost in thought someti—SQUIRREL**

**Skepsis66: Thanks for the kind words, victory dance, and your complete and total admiration. You shall be a general when I take over the world. Has there EVER been a story quite like this? No. Should I brag on myself at four o'clock in the morning? Probably not. But here we are.**

**Z LOT847: Hope you kept on reading, bud. It gets a lot better.**

**Twilight- The Moon Spirit: Er… sorry about those kittens. My bad. First, sorry about all the cursing. I think that's just what happens when you're in a tense situation and you're a weapon of mass destruction. Beats murder as a stress reliever. Also… eh, there really hasn't been that much of background material released about the Mizukage. I'm just going with my personal favorite interpretation of him.**

**Manic Dogma: Thanks for reading. Hopefully, you'll make a profile and put me on your alerts. First off, some other characters don't get a lotta limelight because it's not a story about them. This is listed under romance, but for the most part, it's an action series about Naruto. There isn't a lot of focus on Sasuke because… well… it's not about him. But fear not! He will have his own time to show EXACTLY why he should be feared. I'm going to give you a hint… he's EVOLVED. **

**There will not—and I cannot stress this enough—there will NOT be a Chuunin exam arc. I think we've gone past that by this point, no? I just think that as powerful as Naruto is, it just wouldn't be right. And as for the pairings… well, you've noticed already that I like killing people. Who's next?**

**Dum dum DUUUMMMMMMMM**

That's it for the review answers. On with the story. And as always, read and review. Your reviews are like delicious candy to me.

* * *

**Chapter 38**

"Squads, check in," a voice came through the earpiece in Naruto's ear crackled. Naruto grunted. He'd been in position already for nearly two hours, and the temperature was falling quickly as the day went on. Snow had begun falling once again, blown in from the south and east.

He was on the "head" of the mountain fortress facing north, the general direction the gathered forces of Oto, Ame, and Uchiha Madara's Akatsuki mercenary organization were gathered. Though he was no sensor-type shinobi by any means, that many soldiers in one place made a hot-spot of chakra that one would have to be dense to ignore, even at that distance.

"Konoha, checking in," Naruto heard Kakashi reply. "Code green."

"Suna checking in," came old lady Chiyo's geriatric voice. "And can we hurry and get this war over with? These old bones weren't meant to be out in the cold like this! I could keel over and die!"

"If only we could be so lucky," the Tsuchikage shot back instantly. "Iwa. Green."

Chiyo chuckled good-naturedly. She, Sarutobi, and Onoki were the oldest of the bunch, the only three remaining from the formation of the great shinobi villages. The three of them had in time been allies and deadly enemies, each on more than one occasion. Though they didn't particularly like each other all that much, they had tremendous respect for each other's skills and qualities. On this momentous day in which they all would unite against a common enemy, there was no reason to take things personally.

"Kumo," said Dariu, the dark-skinned young man from said village. "Code Green."

As per routine, it was Naruto's turn. "Uzumaki reporting. Nothing to report." That earned a few chuckles on the com link. "Eyes in the skies, you have anything yet?"

Utakata, several hundred feet above Naruto's head, spoke up. "Negative," he said. "This new snowstorm is impeding my vision to less than a hundred feet. I can't get a visual from my position. I'm going to circle around, and see if there is any activity."

Rōshi grunted over the comm. "Keep an eye out, and stay close to the ground. This snowstorm won't let you see anything from too high up. And keep Fū in the loop next time you rendezvous."

"Affirmative," acknowledged Utakata, before he cut off the line.

"Everyone else?" Rōshi called out.

"Yugito here," the Nibi jinchūriki intoned, her voice muffled by the wind and the cloth around her head. She and Kirabi were together at the base of the mountain, in front of its main entrance. "B's with me. Still nothing."

From atop one of the other heads of the mountain, the Suna jinchūriki spoke. "Gaara. No change." He paused for a moment, then added, "But it is getting colder. I don't like the cold."

"That's a surprise," snarked Naruto with a chuckle. "The kid who grew up in the desert hates the snow. Didn't see that one coming."

A few more laughs floated over the comm. "Pipe down, Naruto," grumbled Kakashi. "Stay focused. You need to be ready at a moment's notice. Finish roll call, people, if you don't mind."

Naruto smiled to himself as several others checked in. Four hours had passed since Haku had come back from his fight with Yagura, since he'd panicked and worried about his friend. Since then, he'd been a ball of nervous energy, and he still didn't know if his plan would work.

In theory, it was sound. The jutsu that his father had created (though never battle-tested) was _technically, _in the strictest definition, feasible. But it would take a lot of strictly-necessary events to fall into place to achieve a hundred-percent success. So many things could go wrong with this gambit, there were so many twists and turns that could be taken wrong that would result in their final destinations. It was all riding on him—they were all _depending _on him.

No pressure.

_Relax, _Naruto told himself. _Just relax. Maybe… maybe now that they know we know… hell, maybe they've called off the attack. Maybe they'll try something else?_

It was too good to be true. Naruto's wandering mind was brought to attention by Mifune speaking over the line. "Gold leader? Gold leader? Gold squad, come in."

Silence.

"Gold leader… Kangoro, respond."

After a moment, a series of muffled taps from the samurai squad captain's microphone came over the line. _Taptaptap tap taptap taptap. _

Naruto's blood ran cold, completely independent of the frosty air and falling snow. That sequence of taps was universal code, even, it seemed, for the samurai of Iron: _Enemy forces sighted, too close to reply, awaiting orders._

"Gold leader, do _not _engage! Repeat, _do not engage_! Stand your ground and remain under cover!" Mifune insisted. The samurai had camouflaged themselves under short bunkers designed to look like snow-covered humps in the landscape. With any luck, they'd be able to stay under cover and undiscovered even in the midst of the enemy forces.

If they didn't have any luck…

Best not to think about that.

"Red leader!" Mifune snapped impatiently. "Report!" Again, Naruto felt a chill when the same sequence of taps responded from the leader of Red squad's team. The other five teams responded in kind—

_They're here, _Naruto thought. _Oh, god. _It suddenly became supremely real in his eyes. The enemies had come upon them… they were at their front door… It was _war. _

"Uzumaki!" Mifune barked over the line. "Is your jutsu ready?"

Naruto grunted. "You know it is. Just have your boys do their job and keep to the schedule. Remember, they have two minutes to do their job."

Mifune grunted back at him. "Squad leaders, you heard him," he said. "When I give the signal, divert all enemy shinobi into the designated sectors! Delta formations, and if you value your lives… _do not enter the kill zones!_"

"They're called 'kill zones' for a reason, people!" Naruto hastily added. "If you're in there when my jutsu's activated, _you. Will. Die. _I'm giving you guys fair warning! _Stay the __**fuck **__away from the kill zones!_"

Silence fell over the frequency. There was some ominous note of finality and trepidation in Naruto's words. He had a jutsu set up that could, in theory, effortlessly murder _thousands _of people hundreds of feet away… and they wouldn't have any kind of warning. There would be absolutely nothing they could do to defend themselves. As soon as they stepped foot into the wrong sector—even as much as a _foot _on the wrong side of an invisible line—their fates would be sealed.

And Naruto was the one who had decided to use this tactic.

_God… God, forgive me. _

"All squads… hold your line," Mifune murmured. "Rear guard… the instant you see the enemy, indicate. Other than that, maintain radio silence."

The wind and snow howled through the frigid air. Naruto's heart rate shot through the roof in fear and anticipation and trepidation and the pure adrenalin-fueled excitement in his soul. He'd fought before—he'd killed before—hell, he'd done things he had once never even considered possible—but this was something new to him. It was dangerous and exciting and… and something else. At the back of his mind, in a space that he knew was his own, it felt _right. _He was doing what he'd always been meant to do.

He was here to fight for the fate of the world.

_The world._

Naruto grit his teeth. He was ready. He thought.

A rapid-fire series of taps indicating that Gold squad had seen the leading invading shinobi at the rear end of the vanguard shot over the line. Not a second later, Blue squad's rear man indicated the same. Green, Red, and Black followed in rapid succession, narrated in a hushed tone by Mifune. "Get ready, my samurai," Mifune said. "White and Grey?"

_Taptap tap tap tap taptaptaptaptap tap tap_

_Taptap taptaptap tap taptaptaptaptap tap tap_

"_NOW!_" Mifune roared.

From atop his position, though Naruto could not see the action, he could clearly hear the roar of over seven hundred samurai leap from their positions and startle the advance parties with soul-crushing roars. The sound of steel on steel rang over from seven directions, the cries of surprise and screams and shrieks of pain a harsh background noise to the invisible war a stone's throw away.

"Two minutes and counting!" Naruto shouted. "You have less than two minutes to push them aside! Stand your ground! Stand your _fucking ground!_"

One hundred samurai per sector, each roughly twenty feet wide, could effectively stop an army at close quarters combat. It didn't matter how many shinobi were thrown into the forefront of the samurai's guard; with that many people crowded in such a confined space, most jutsu would be impossible to use without collateral damage. In this situation, the samurai were at the extreme advantage—if there was one thing a modern samurai knew how to do… it was to kill shinobi _en mass._

Naruto tried to block the sounds of dying men and women from his mind. It would do no good to be distracted at this point—no, it would be _lethal _to be distracted. "A minute forty!" He shouted out once more. He began gathering chakra, swirling it through his body, warming and tightening his tenketsu and he readied it for his jutsu. He took a long skip backwards and slid down the neck of the mountain's head, sliding over the ice and snow to the center of the intimidating fortress.

There, in an area clear of all snow, were spikes driven into the stone, seven in all, arranged in a pentagon over fifteen feet in diameter. The spikes were mounted with wooden shafts, with a ring set atop , each one fifteen feet in the air. These instruments had been created by Naruto's clones to _exact _specifications, with rings yanked from the mountain's dungeons.

Within the circle was a seal etched into the mountain itself, made of dozens and dozens of rings of characters barely an inch in size with less than that separating each individual ring. There was a clearing in the center of the circle two feet wide, just big enough for Naruto to stand in without any of his body to overlap the surrounding seals.

He walked over the characters cautiously, the truly astonishing amount of chakra and raw, destructive potential humming beneath his feet. Inside the field surrounded by the scrolls, the air was so thick with chakra that the snow itself seemed to vaporize before it entered. He could feel the malevolent aura of the seals, as if the individual characters were alive, as if they were tiny little vipers waiting to leap from the stone and snap the tender carotids beneath his jaw. He again shuddered. His skin began tingling from the pressure surrounding him. Though inactivated, the seal contained enough raw potential to blast the mountain to infinitesimal rubble.

It wasn't until he stepped into the clear space that the pressure receded. Here, in this tiny space, was a quiet zone. The circles of characters were designed to corral and focus the power the scrolls held, propped up by three other seal arrays in the mountain beneath him. This small area was like a bubble in the middle of an ocean—a tiny void in an all-encompassing pressure-filled mass.

Once he was inside the soft zone, he plunged his hand into his coat and pulled the scroll his clones had created out. He held it for a few seconds, almost second-guessing himself. He knew what he had to do, what everyone else was counting on him to do… if he backed out now, it would all be for nothing. He'd have lead them all into the gates of hell and handed not only himself, but the rest of the jinchūriki, to Madara on a silver platter.

He focused on the scroll for a moment, sending chakra into it through his hand. He didn't need much, just enough to prime it. The seals inside of it reacted to his token amount, using it as a catalyst to ignite the jutsu and set it about its preprogrammed course.

It was with a certain amount of pride, though, that he beheld the scroll. Of all the varied styles of jutsu known to shinobi, the art of sealing was perhaps the most as-of-yet undiscovered. Ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu were all noble arts, essential to the stable of any shinobi—especially for one who planned on having a lasting, living career. But sealing… ahh, the fundamental simplicity of taking brush and ink to paper and making _things _happen was possibly the most underrated art of all. The sheer infinity of possible seal arrays was absolutely _mind-boggling. _

Naruto's father had been a prodigy in the sealing arts. From a young age, it seemed that he simply had a knack for understanding the intricacies of even the most complex and delicate seals. Just as some people were born with an innate gift for mathematics or art, he just _knew _the best ways to achieve his desired results. This was the man who'd figured out how to create the frikkin _Hiraishin _from _scratch. _

That wasn't even the tip of the proverbial iceberg. His wife, Naruto's mother, came from a clan of seal specialists. Her people had spent decades perfecting their art, to the point where they could summon the personification of death itself—the _shinigami. _She had passed on much of what she'd known to her husband later on in life, further augmenting his own godlike abilities.

Minato had spent quite some time in creating the complex of seals that Naruto was now using. Like and intricate and delicate piece of electronic wizardry, each and every piece of the array had to be exactly tuned for maximum efficiency. If there was even one flaw in the design, one of two things would happen—either it would simply fail… miserably… or it would end in failure _spectacularly. _

The only thing that gave Naruto any hesitation was the fact that, although his father had _designed _the seal arrays, and it was perfect in _theory, _it had never actually been tested. At all. He was taking a massive risk using this jutsu. Of course, if he didn't use it, and quickly, it would be a moot point. He'd probably be killed, his fellow shinobi killed, all of the bijuu captured by Madara and his Akatsuki gang, and the world would be plunged into a world war the likes of which could hardly be conceived. He couldn't let that happen.

With a chill, he realized that the next one eighty-seven seconds could decide the fate of the world.

He focused his attention outward, to the Hiraishin seals he'd had the samurai place in very specific points throughout the mountain. On the bottom level, n thirteen concentric circles, kunai had been evenly spaced according to the blueprints of the mountain he'd been given, his father's kunai had been placed on the stone floors with their seal tags face up and the tips of the blades pointing directly inward. He'd had clones check the accuracy of their placements painstakingly for an hour. If they weren't aligned to within a safe margin—his father had guessed at about an eighth of an inch would be about the safest deviation—it would malfunction is its purpose. The exact number of kunai per ring varied, but they were all exactly equidistant from each other, per ring. The innermost one was the size of the circle he now stood in, not coincidentally. Inside the inner circle was a array of seals painted onto the floor, where above where Naruto stood there was nothing.

On the level above, there were fewer rings of those marked kunai, eight in all. Their structure was the same, though the pattern had been adjusted so that the weapons were a few inches closer together than on the level below, and the ring sections were closer together. Again, the inside of the field was marked with seals.

The floor of the level below Naruto contained the smallest array of kunai yet; instead of rings, though, the kunai were arranged in a spiral, going in towards the middle in a clockwise direction. The kunai were overlapped by half an inch, until the pattern ended at the very center… just below where Naruto now stood.

Surrounding that array were kunai driven into the stone floor, facing inward, but tilted at 45-degree angles. They were positioned so that their perimeter was scant inches outside the spiral's, and just below the poles spiked into the mountain above.

The entire hodgepodge was for a critical purpose: the collection of the weakest known force in the universe—_gravity. _In comparison to the other three known fundamental forces, it is the feeblest of the quartet. On a cosmic scale, it's almost unnoticeable, in fact. Considering that it takes the mass of an entire planet to keep even the smallest thing from flying straight up, gravity could even be taken laughably.

But the human body is a tricky thing. Eons after man first walked, and it still hasn't had to evolve to an increase in gravitational pull. After all, it's never _had _to. Put enough g's on a person, gradually, in a controlled environment, and they could die.

This seal array had been designed to put over fifty times the total gravitational pull on a massive amount of people in a single instant.

The kunai below were all marked with the seal of the Hiraishin. That really was the most _remarkable _seal. Besides being the tools used to teleport its user, they had an accumulative effect; the more were used at a time, the easier it was to slip from one to the other. Of course, it took a certain amount of chakra to go from kunai to kunai. Minato had once maxed out during a battle with Iwa by teleporting instantaneously between no less than five hundred of the seals, almost single-handedly winning one of the final battles of the war.

Naruto was about to teleport through no less than three thousand.

The scroll in his hand was a kind of storage device. The designs it had been based off of had been created in the idea of gathering momentum and kinetic energy. Minato had mulled it over for a few years, and figured out how to create a rather crude, yet effective, gravity bomb. It absorbed kinetic energy proportional to how far it travelled after activation. It was a seal array of incalculable potential, but also unimaginable cruelty. He'd decided not to use it more, or let its secrets become known, due to the cruel methods it employed. There was a difference in battle between setting a trap and crushing a foe to pulp. It was too close to a war crime for his liking.

But its knowledge had been passed on to his son… a son who, frankly, had fewer compunctions than his father had been.

Naruto was going to be holding it in hand while accelerating faster than human thought through the scrolls below to build up energy. The seals etched into the middle of the kunai rings guaranteed that he'd travel in a set course, eliminating the necessity of consciously going from one to the other. The instant he activated the Hiraishin no Jutsu, it would be all over.

The seals currently surrounding him were different; imbedded in them were copies of the Hiraishin tag, though added characters redirected energy outward to the kunai he'd had the samurai place in the forests. Those seals would absorb the gravitational forces inside the scroll, sending them outward to the kunai littered liberally around the mountain. The effect would be copied, not divided. Each of the tags, for less than a split second, would have a radius of destruction that would affect anything surrounding it. Anything inside that kill zone would be flattened thinner than a pancake.

There was only small solace for Naruto in the knowledge that nobody would live through the crippling injuries they were about to receive.

There was not a single point in the forest around the mountain that would escape devastation save for the save zones the samurai occupied.

Uzumaki Naruto would go down in history as one of the most destructive individuals in the history of shinobi.

"Sixty seconds!" he shouted into his radio. "Divert as many enemy forces into the kill zones as you can, then hightail outta there! Hurry the hell up!"

The sounds of bloody carnage reigning in the trees dimmed; the natural reflex of any army in the face of another would be to attempt to surround and engage from the outside in. Unfortunately for the Ame and Oto shinobi, they had blundered into one of the most massive genjutsu created by man. In total, fourteen of the remaining shinobi knew the Fukyuudou no Jutsu. It was a simple trick, to be honest, of moderate difficulty, but when layered and layered by multiple individuals, they were like bricks—separately, weak, but strong beyond belief when put together.

The binder tags that had been placed throughout the kill zones served to hold the genjutsu in place, in a single area. They also served the purpose of making the illusions exceedingly difficult to dispel. None save for the highest-level genjutsu master would be able to break the illusions held by a single tag—a pointless gesture, for the next-nearest ones would ensnare them posthaste.

Essentially… the instant they strayed off course, they would wander around in darkness, unable to move in safety, impossibly disoriented, until they died.

"Forty seconds!" Naruto bellowed. "Make a retreat, all squads! Get the fuck outta there, I'm not sure how big it's gonna be!"

"I've got a man in there!" one of the samurai captains shouted back at him. "You're not blowing this thing until I get him out!"

Naruto winced. Anyone who got caught even a foot inside the danger zone would be a goner. The genjutsu was specially designed to force any and all entrapped to stay within it. Unless someone was able to grab them from without, they wouldn't be able to exit voluntarily. If the samurai in question was too far in… he wouldn't have a chance.

"You idiot!" Naruto said loudly. "You—"

"I have a rope," the captain interrupted. "He's just a few feet inside! I can make it!"

Naruto's teeth ground together. "Goddamn it!" He grabbed at his hair and tugged. This was not going well. "We don't have time! Get the hell outta there!" He began feeling the chakra around him thicken in intensity. The jutsu began priming once he stepped into the circle of runes; once it reached a certain point, he wouldn't be able to halt it. The problem was, he didn't know exactly _when _critical mass would be sprung. He knew that it would have been outside the time limit he had given the samurai… but not too much longer. He didn't know how much extra time he would be able to give the samurai.

"I'm not leaving one of my men behind!" the samurai captain shouted. "Make time!"

"Fuck!" There was nothing Naruto could do but grimace. He knew that the samurai was right; he'd do the same for any one of his comrades.

The seconds ticked off in his head. Ten… fifteen… twenty…

…

"Got him!" the samurai shouted. "Pull me out!" Naruto heard the breath whoosh from his lungs as he was yanked forcibly from the kill zone by his subordinates. After a quick shuffling sound, Naruto heard him shout to his people to get out of there.

The pressure around Naruto was beginning to be unbearable. It was as if he was being pulled in two ways by iron chains, while simultaneously crushed by stone pillars. It was beginning to become hard to breathe. The physical strain his body was under from the runes around and below was incredible. "Get outta t-there!" he shouted. "I don't know how m-much longer I can hold onto this thing!"

Mifune responded immediately. "All forces, tactical retreat! Injured first, the rest of you give them support and cover their rears! All shinobi, ready the barriers!" To cover their retreat, any shinobi who knew powerful Doton jutsu had been assigned to the safe zone alleys to block the remaining enemy ninja from escaping into the clearing surrounding the mountain. At the very least, it would buy them some crucial time for Naruto to activate his jutsu while their own people got to safety.

"_Come on!_" Naruto screamed, in panic, fear, and impatience. "I don't have _all day here!_"

"My people have priority!" Mifune snarled. "They're almost clear! Just a few more seconds!"

The scroll in Naruto's hand suddenly felt heavier. _Oh… oh, gods… _"We might not HAVE A FEW MORE SECONDS!" The edges of his vision had begun to turn red. No, no, _no, _this was not supposed to happen! The scroll had already begun to absorb gravity around him, it was already activating—and it was increasing his own body weight. Already, he felt five times heavier than normal. It was a struggle just to stand. He reinforced his body with demonic chakra to alleviate the stress on his body, but it was not exactly a simple prospect under the circumstances.

"I don't know how long I can hold out!" Naruto said to all who could hear. "I'm at—my—limit—"

Through his blurred vision, Naruto could see large pillars of stone jut out over the edge of the mountain, at the locations where the save zones ended. "_**GO, NARUTO!**_" Sarutobi shouted. "_**GO GODDAMNIT**_"

Naruto let go of it all. He released his restraints, he let go of his fears and trepidations and angst, he forgot that he was about to crush so many people to unrecognizable pulp. He let go of everything that was holding him back.

He let go of his conscience.

He just… let go.

He initiated the jutsu.

It was odd; he didn't really notice anything. It was as if he saw something out of the corner of his eye for a split second, but it was only a flash, and only for an instant. It was as if some half-remembered memory surfaced in his mind, only to be smothered by a more pressing thought, then quickly all but forgotten. It was curious… like the world had gone dim, or he had blinked, or had _thought _he blinked and couldn't quite be sure.

In the instant it took him to process those thoughts, it happened. A muffled thud sounded in his ear, almost instantly followed by what felt like a blow to his entire body, from all directions, at once. The headache that had begun multiplied immeasurably, driving him to his knees with a scream of pain. He clutched at his head and bowed down to the ground with his forehead pressed into the snow that had suddenly billowed up around his feet, now that the jutsu had run its course.

His vision became completely obscured by a red filter, a byproduct of the trauma to his brain. Oh, gods… the _pain, _the _pain _he felt, the inconceivable, horrific agony coursing through his body was far too strong, stronger than he could bear. It hurt too much for him to scream or writhe, he couldn't do anything but kneel down upon the cold, unfeeling mountain and simply become lost in the burning red wave of madness that had engulfed his brain.

At the back of what remained of his mind, he realized that the only other time he had felt anything of this magnitude before was… it had been the time in the forest, the day Mizuki had shown his true colors… the day Youichi had been killed.

The day the Kyuubi had taken his body.

The day he had taken Mizuki's soul.

The red slowly faded to black as the snow gently fell onto his still form. His eyes, though tightly shut, screamed in their own agony.

Then there was silence.

Then there was nothing.

* * *

Then there was light, and sounds, and an overwhelming ache throughout his body. It was a dull, pulsating throb convulsing him sporadically, over and over. He knew that he was cold, but a slow burn in his brain told him that he was alive and, worse still, aware enough to realize just how much damage his body had taken.

He was now laying on his back, his arms by his side. His chest and belly were substantially colder than the rest of him, almost as cold as his face. His head was propped up on something firm, yet supple, and he felt a pair of hands on his front.

He opened his eyes slowly; snow had collected on his lashes, and the movement had allowed a few flakes to drift onto them. He hissed at the sudden icy water that formed and twitched. He tried to sit up, but the hands on his chest were joined by a pair on his shoulders to keep him down. "Easy, tiger, easy there," a woman's voice said from above and behind his head. He vaguely recognized the voice of the Nibi's host, Yugito. He raised a hand to brush his eyes, then looked up to see her face. Though upside-down from his perspective, he could see the worry in her slanted eyes. A small, exasperated smile crooked her lips as recognition came to him.

He tried to speak, but his throat was raw. Nothing more than a croak came out. He tried to inhale, but his swelled throat only let in a minimum of breath. "Relax, kid," she said softly. "You really did a number on yourself there. What in the hell were you thinking, trying a jutsu like that, without ever testing it first?" She shook her head. "Damned kids, think they know everything."

He looked up at the other set of hands on him. One of the men who had accompanied Kirābī, the pale young man named C, was concentrating intently on his chest, his hands aglow in green healing chakra. "Don't try to speak," he said stiffly. "Your left lung collapsed. I'm repairing it right now… don't try to use the Kyuubi's chakra at the moment, it'd just get in the way. Half of your bones have hairline fractures, and several tendons and ligaments in your feet are torn or snapped. It'll take at least ten or fifteen minutes for me to fix you up to the point where the Kyuubi can heal the rest of you." He shook his head. "Uzumaki-san… I have seen many self-destructing jutsu, and have healed the casters after them, but—" He sighed. "—but this has got to be one of the most ridiculously _stupid _ones I have ever seen in my life." He closed his eyes and let his senses direct him in repairing Naruto's lung.

It took several long minutes, but finally, Naruto could breathe without struggling. With C's hands still on his chest, he inhaled sharply. Though raspy, it became steady and even, and, eventually, calm. When he felt up to it, he said to Yugito, "W-what happened?"

She grimaced. "Chakra imbalance," she said simply. "It seems like you were using too much of the Kyuubi's chakra at once while you lost a significant portion of your own. Without either of you in control when you passed out, the demonic chakra overloaded your tenketsu." She frowned, sighed, and shook her head. "You idiot. You really don't know the first thing about moderation, do you?"

Naruto chuckled, bringing on a new spasm of pain in his chest. "I guess not," he admitted. "My girlfriend would tell you the same."

Yugito looked up over her shoulder at someone. "He's kidding, right?"

A familiar voice chuckled behind her. "I dunno," Jiraiya said, stepping around her over to the opposite side of C. "From what I've heard, he's quite the playboy. Did you know, he's dating the Hyuuga princess?"

Yugito frowned. "You've gotta be kidding me," she mumbled.

"Afraid not," Jiraiya said with a smirk.

"Naruto's an idiot," said Fū as she walked around and crouched beside C. "But he's a good boy."

C took his hands away from Naruto's bare chest. His shirt had been torn more than enough for C to get to him, though his jacket remained untouched. "How ya holding up?" Fū asked him.

Naruto glared at her. "I had a collapsed lung, idiot," he said. "What do you think?"

Fū closed her eyes tightly. "Don't make me kick your ass, Naruto!"

Naruto chuckled again, this time with less pain. He was surprised by how well C had been able to fix him up, actually. He sat up with a groan, but looked up at the Kumo medic and smiled. "Again," he said, "thanks for fixing me up. We have got to stop meeting like this, buddy."

C smiled good-naturedly. "It's what I do. Just don't keep me too busy." He stood, brushing snow off of his legs and body. "I know of the regenerative powers of the Kyuubi. Use him to fix up the rest of you. We don't have much time left before we think the next wave comes at us."

_You heard him, _Naruto internally said to Kyuubi. _Fix me up, fox. _

**Shut up, kit! **Kyuubi snipped at him. **It's your fault we're in this mess! **Nevertheless, Naruto could almost instantly feel the warm, tingling sensation of the fox's energies coursing through him, healing his remaining wounds and making him whole once more. He was still sore by the end of it, but more or less undamaged.

Naruto stood up with assistance from Fū. "Enough joking around," he said solemnly. "Did it work? Did the Sougon Bakudan no Jutsu work?"

Fū looked at him steadily for a moment. "You need to see for yourself, I think," she said.

She let Naruto throw an arm around her jacketed shoulders. Though healed, his legs were still stiff and aching; this was best for now. She and he went to the north edge of the center of the mountain, the direction where the enemy forces were camped, and where most of them had come in from. Naruto got to the edge, where he could see out over…

His breath left his lungs for the third time that day.

The portions of forest that he'd seeded with his father's kunai had each been in the neighborhood of two hundred yards by one hundred. Seven of them surrounded the mountain, with less than six yards of space between each section that was technically safe. Nonetheless, nothing, _nothing _could have prepared him for what he saw over the snow-covered landscape.

_I did this? I? Did? This? _The sectors weren't perfectly sized—it had been something of a rush to set them up, after all. Some of the kunai had been placed somewhat out of Naruto's plotted points, but all in all, they had been to specs. Hundreds of kunai had been placed out there, all over, to deliver the critical strike he had set up. But he never thought he would ever see anything like this.

A complete, almost perfect, ring of earth was sunken at least fifteen feet into the ground. Trees toppled made up most of the surface, with massive boulders and large piles of dirt scattered about in between. For a wild second, he thought that this had to be some sort of illusion; there was no way the jutsu could have been as powerful as this, no way at all. But… wow.

Wow.

"This is insane," he said softly. "This is madness." His jaw slowly lowered as he surveyed what he had wrought.

A heavy hand clamped down on his shoulder. He looked up to see the Raikage, his bare chest dark in the fading light, looking out over him over the edge. "This is war," he grunted. "You did what you said you would."

Naruto couldn't think of a reply to that. "How many?" he asked after a few moments.

Fū put her arm around Naruto's body and pulled him in to her, a comforting embrace for the both of them. He could see a tear forming in the corner of her eye closer to him. "Too many," she said. "Far too many." She closed her eyes and let out a breath. "I was up there, Naruto-kun, when it happened. I counted at least two thousand. Maybe as much as three. I'm sure Hinata would know the exact number, Naruto, but I… I just couldn't look at them. Not when they were…"

Naruto wrapped his other arm around his friend, his sister, and pulled her in close to him. "I know," he said to her, his face buried into her collarbone. "I understand, Fū." They held each other for a few minutes, each one crying silent tears of remorse.

This was something that he had never thought that he would do. He knew that he would one day be called upon for some grand battle against the enemies of Konoha. He knew his status of the Kyuubi's Jinchūriki meant that one day, sooner than he would have liked, would put him on the front lines of war. As regrettable as he knew it would be, as horrible as the reality was, he knew that untold dozens or hundreds would probably die by his hand by the time he died. He knew that his fate was to be the protector of his village, his people, his family, his friends. He knew that this was a life that he was meant to live.

He knew that he shouldn't show emotion over the deaths of his enemies.

He knew that he was breaking the rules.

He held onto Fū and let himself cry over this mass destruction, this unfeeling, wonton pulse of death that he had let loose and spread onto the world. He held her… and they cried.

"We don't have time for this, Uzumaki," A said. "Mourn later. Right now, we still have enemies that want your head. This isn't the time to grow soft."

Naruto pulled away from Fū and wiped his eyes with the back of his gloved hand. "I know," he said as he regained his composure. "I know, it's just… I just killed upwards of three thousand men, women, and children. Give me a minute."

The Raikage was not known as a soft man. He had attained his position by dint of the strength of his back, the might of his arms, and the steel of his resolve. He believed that the rulers of any people should be strong, and those who weren't up to snuff should step aside and allow the predators to reign over the prey. His father had been the one that had started this arms race that Kumo was now experiencing, and it was his duty to continue on in his stead. By all logic, he shouldn't have had any sympathy for those out there who had lost their lives.

But something flickered at the back of his atrophied conscience. This boy, this young, green, inexperienced boy, had just destroyed almost the entirety of two separate villages in a single instant. He held a power that any sane man would fear, and had used a jutsu that could only be classified as "forbidden." He had seen first-hand what happened to children when forced onto the battlefield. For all his strength and versatility, Uzumaki was still a child by any comparison. What he had just done would haunt him for the rest of his life, and he had made himself a pariah in the eyes of most of the rest of the world. Once this got out, he wouldn't just be feared. He would be loathed by those left behind on this field of war. Hundreds, thousands, perhaps, would want his head and more. They would spend the rest of their lives hunting him down, harassing him, doing what they could to destroy him. He would not get a single moment's restful sleep. This single day could very well be what would break him beyond recognition in the days to come.

The boy had done it for the sake of the world, for the sake of a lasting peace. He had done it so that whatever schemes Madara had planned wouldn't come to pass. Had the boy not called this conference, there was every chance that his younger adoptive brother could have fallen prey to these "Akatsuki" mercenaries. There was no way around it—he owed the boy at least a few more minutes to grieve.

"Do what you want," he said gruffly as he folded his arms. "But we need to act soon." He turned and walked away, back towards the center of the mountain where the rest of the Kage had appeared, along with the remaining Jinchūriki and several of the top-level samurai.

Fū pulled him back into a half-hug and rested her cheek on top of his head. "You did the right thing, Naruto-kun," she said softly into the dying wind and falling snow. "Don't forget that. Maybe you prevented even more people from dying in the future. You could have just saved the world, right here and now." She leaned over and kissed the top of his head in a sisterly fashion. "I'm proud of you, little brother."

Naruto leaned into her and sniffed. "Thanks," he said. "That doesn't make it any easier, but… thanks." He pulled out of the embrace and headed back towards the rest of the pack. "Let's not keep them waiting, Fū."

The girl fell in behind him, a worried frown on her face. She knew just how strong Naruto really was. He was a tough boy, with a will of iron and fire. But iron could be brittle if not forged right, and he hadn't been beaten and tempered for these conditions. She worried that he would shatter into a thousand pieces if he was struck the wrong way, especially now.

She resolved then and there that she would protect him. He saved her. It was because of him that he was alive. She owed him everything—she would give up everything for him. This boy was the one man she would put everything on the line for. She would follow him into the depths of hell if he asked. She wasn't quite sure why, but… she trusted him. She had faith that he would one day be the messiah that she knew he could be.

All he needed was a little faith in himself.

* * *

A/N: There we go. Sorry to leave ya on yet ANOTHER cliffy, but… I just can't help myself. I think I need help.

I love you guys. You're great. Keep up the good fight, and thank you SO MUCH for your support. You really are the best. Peace out, peeps.

Find someone you love and never let them go.

~dead witch


	39. Something Lost, Something Found

A/N: I don't know what came over me. This chapter has completely drained me. I started writing it, but when I was only about a quarter way through, I had an idea. It was a crazy idea, and likely, some of you are going to call me a complete and utter asshole. But it was an idea too good to not use. I have impulse control issues, by the way.

There's really not much to report. It's been about two weeks since I've updated, and I think that I can keep up this schedule, if I can avoid Doctor Who marathons. Seriously—While awesome, watching Doctor Who is NOT beneficial to a healthy writing environment.

It's almost Christmas! For all those who celebrate, Merry Christmas! For all you heathens out there (and I say that lovingly) Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanza, and everything else! I love you guys, you are the BEST readers ever. Seriously.

If you would like to be friends on Facebook, I'll have a link in my status very soon. Hit me up sometime, and let me know what you think of the story so far.

Review answer time!

**Shinen no Hikari: I am a genius, thank you. And we're saying "Fuck Kishimoto" for bringing back MADARA FUCKING UCHIHA as a PUPPET OF KABUTO and TOBI NOT BEING MADARA FUCKING UCHIHA AAARGARAGRLFARGLE**

**Ahem.**

**ArtanisRose: Well, don't forget, it was Minato who came up with the jutsu, Naruto just constructed it to his specifications. As to how big a deal it was… yes, this would be considered a weapon of mass destruction. You'll see how Naruto handles it below.**

**Silver Warrior: Er… Yeah, just look this stuff up on Wikipedia. Look up "four fundamental forces" or something like that, and you'll find out.**

**Ray5pegasus: Very delighted you like my writing, friend :D always great to get a glowing review such as yours!**

**Shrumples… dude… get a freakin account already. Can almost guarantee you that nobody has the name yet. It's EASY.**

**Dragon Man 180: I will go ON THE RECORED and say that the gravity jutsu Naruto used COULD in fact flatten a bijuu, if only for a little while. In fact, it will be considered IN STORY CANON that he was developing it in case Kyuubi somehow escaped and he had no other way to take it down. The reason that he didn't use it the day Naruto was born was only because he was so close to Konoha, and he didn't have time to set it up. It is considered SS Class. The extra "S" is for "You gotta be freakin desperate to even TRY to pull this off" level.**

**Trelweny Rosephoenixwolf****: It's probably a good thing you had to look some of them up. You don't wanna be a Narutard like the rest of us. And yes, I am actually pretty proud of the way I had the Raikage portrayed. He seems more human this way, you know?**

**Twilight- The Moon Spirit: Luckily, there were no Hyuuga there. Because if there were, they would have probably found a small, dark corner, and curled up into the fetal position from what they would have seen. No joke, it would make even the hardest mother fucker crack. Also… you're right. This IS a variation of a technique that Pain could use. Why, it's even something that needs MASSIVE amounts of chakra to use. Oh, also, yes, it's probably the ONLY thing that could even HOPE to cancel out Pain's jutsu. There's no WAY that could be important down the line, is there?**

**IS THERE?**

**Blinth: Glad you like. Been writing for a long, LONG time.**

Read an review. And may God have mercy on my soul.

* * *

**Chapter 39**

"How are we looking?" Naruto asked as he reached the collected shinobi and samurai. Those on retainer had been stationed with the samurai to keep on the lookout in case another wave was to come without warning. Those with the decision-making power stood here, all fifteen of them. Four Kage, seven Jinchūriki, and four samurai stood in a loose circle, not in any particular order.

There was a grim atmosphere amongst them. They all understood the gravity of the situation. Naruto had just done something that few would have thought possible. This war now stood on a precarious balancing point—either the remaining foes would launch an all-out assault in retaliation, or they would retreat. Those were really the only two remaining options. The total estimated forces of the Ame and Oto shinobi were numbered at about two thousand each. Between two and three thousand had died not moments before; over fifty percent of the enemy army had been dispatched already. If they were going to make any sort of offensive at this point, it would have to be all-out.

"Good and bad," said Onoki. He rubbed at his potato-esque face angrily. "Either we go to all-out war right now, or they all retreat a bit further out. Uchiha Madara isn't the type to give up. He wouldn't let us out of his grasp so easily. I'm sure he has something besides this army of his up his sleeve, but what?"

"It is probably his Akatsuki that we have most to worry about," countered Sarutobi. "Uchiha Itachi, Hoshigaki Kisame, Deidara, Madara… and who knows who else." His wrinkled brows furrowed. "If there are many more of their caliber in their ranks, we could be in for a bigger fight than we had previously thought."

"Don't forget about Orochimaru," Naruto said from his side.

The Hokage looked down at his soldier. A dark, cold gaze descended upon the boy. Naruto had seen the old man angry before at various levels of intensity, but… this was different. This wasn't the fiery, explosive rage that he was accustomed to. It was cold, dead wrath.

Naruto again realized that he would never, for anything, fight this man for anything less than his life.

"Never," Sarutobi said calmly.

"But what are we going to do?" Utakata asked. "Do we go after them, or wait for them to make their move?"

Mifune lowered his head slightly and looked up with hawk-like eyes around the circle. "Attack, defend, or retreat?" He mulled over. "Which one is the greatest option? Which is the smartest? Which one insures our survival?"

The Kazekage stepped forward. "This situation isn't as simple as survival," he said flatly. "We are in the middle of a war. If we hole up in the mountain, it wouldn't take too long for them to get in. I say we take the fight to them. Now."

Fū put her hands in front of her in an "X" shape. "Uh-uh. We should wait and see what they have to bring to the table first. If we rush in there without knowing anything, we could all get wiped out. And I for one don't feel like becoming some sort of experiment for this Madara guy."

Utakata nodded. "I'm with her," he said. "Intelligence is a part of any war, right? Fighting blind is a bad idea. We should wait."

They all stood there, looking at each other. Eyes shifted, as did their center of gravity. Muscles tensed, and even in this cold barren forest mountain, sweat beaded. This was a confluence of the five greatest military forces on the entire continent, and it was a miracle that none of them had tried to kill each other by now. They all had a vast difference in their personal ideology and politics. Cats thrown in a sack had a better chance of cooperation. "This is a difficult decision to make," Mifune said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "But it is not one that we can afford to waste time making. Attack, or defend? These are our options. They are our _only _options."

Onoki carefully glanced at his equals. Kage had fought side by side on several occasions, but only in times of war. Outside of conflict, they had little to do with each other, other than during such events as the Chuunin exams, when their villages renewed their formal and political alliances. Rarely had three been in proximity without them fighting one another; four or five was unheard of, save for the one time over fifteen years beforehand when the previous Kazekage had disappeared. Thanks to Uzumaki, they all now knew that he had been kidnapped by Sasori and turned into a grotesque doll, a puppet of war.

The short old man grimaced in mental agony. The last war had started due to that kidnapping. Had any of them known the circumstances of the Sandaime Kazekage, almost certainly it would not have happened. How many lives had been lost due to a simple, yet critical, misunderstanding? How many had died because of the inherent lack of trust?

"I vote to stay and defend ourselves," he said momentarily. "We have the advantage here. These samurai know the layout well enough to provide immediate defense against intrusion, should it come to it. Like before, there are only so many ways to get inside. An offensive defense would be most advantageous."

Sarutobi nodded curtly in agreement. "He is right," he said. "We don't have to come to them. They have to come to us. Akatsuki or no Akatsuki, if we work together, we can crush them here."

The current Kazekage and Raikage nodded one after the other. Neither of them were in the least bit afraid of a fight, but with the odds still stacked up against them, and so far away from any hope of reinforcements, they both knew that the best play would be the smartest one.

Each of the four Kage had distinct styles of combat, but if they all agreed that the best place to fight would be here… it would be the graveyard of any foe to come before their united might.

"It is settled," Mifune announced. "We will fortify the fortress and ready for siege."

Naruto shook his head. _Fools, _he thought. He turned his back on the group and began walking toward the north edge of the mountain without a word. It wasn't until he was twenty paces away or so that A called out. "Hey! Uzumaki! Where do you think you're going?"

Naruto stopped. The wind had once again picked back up, and for the first time he noticed that he hadn't yet zipped his jacket back up. It fluttered behind him as he turned, slowly, to face the group. As one, their eyes bored into his. He held his position, and their gazes, though he didn't try to give them the eye. He just stood there for a moment, and shrugged. "I'm going to fight," he said. "That's all I can do." He looked again off to the north, the wind steadily blowing from the east. "That's all I really can do, I guess."

"Naruto!" Fū shouted, stepping toward him. "We agreed! We should wait this out! There's no point in going out there, not when there are still so many of them!"

Naruto met her eyes for a few seconds. "I'll be fine on my own," he said. "I should be able to buy you guys some time to set things up, maybe even take a few hundred of them out before they get here. I'm clever, I'll figure it out somehow."

"Uzumaki!" Sarutobi snapped. "This is not the time to be obstinate! What you told us before, about us working together—is that all a load? Do you not believe in your own words?"

Naruto smiled slightly as he zipped up his coat. "I do," he replied over the wind. "I believe in them fully. I believe that we all can unite against a common enemy if we have to, and we can do this." He pulled his hood back up, cinched it tight, and placed the face cloth around his mouth and nose. "But I also believe that we can't afford to wait. They won't fall for a trap twice. If we wait too long, who knows what they'll do?"

He waved a hand to the side of the mountain. "You see that?" He chuckled, a raspy, disturbing sound. "Do you see what I JUST DID? They might expect that again! It could happen any time! I could just… just _snap _and smash everything to pieces! Throw everything to the ground! They don't know, but I know! If they think I can do that any time I wanted, they could just stay out there forever! Anyone who witnessed that and survived is even now telling Madara that I destroyed over half their army in one fell swoop! Isn't that funny? Huh? _Isn't that FUNNY_?" He began laughing hysterically, maniacally, disturbingly. "Look at me!" He turned and spread his arms out to his sides. "Look! I'm a monster! I killed everyone! Me, I did it! They won't forget it, ever! No matter how you look at it, I'm already dead! I might as well make the most of it!"

"Naruto!" Fū cried again. "Stop this! It isn't your fault! You did—"

"—what had to be done?" Naruto interrupted. "That's what you were going to say, wasn't it? I did what _had to be done._" He spat to the side in disgust. "You know, that's what people say when someone else does something cruel and unspeakable. Putting a comrade out of their misery; did what had to be done. Unplugging the shinobi who'd been on life support for two years; did what had to be done. But when it's _you _who _does what has to be done, _it's not that simple! It's—" He stopped abruptly.

"Uzumaki," the Kazekage started, but Naruto held up a hand.

"Shut up," Naruto hissed. He yanked the hood right back off and perked his ears into the wind.

"Naruto," Sarutobi tried to say, but the boy waved his hand in a silencing gesture. The old man looked on at him, perplexed. Had the kid finally snapped? Had the pressure gotten to him?

"Do you hear that?" Naruto breathed.

"Hear what?" A asked.

Naruto concentrated, his eyes narrowed in focus. "It's… a whistling sound. No, more like a swarm of bees…"

He closed his eyes and delved even further into focus. "Mifune-sama, what's to the east of here?"

Mifune thought for a moment. "Nothing. Three miles away, there is a railroad that runs northeast to the south, but besides that, nothing worth speaking of."

Naruto ignored him for the moment, putting everything he had into identifying the sound. It was faint, barely on the edge of audible. In fact, if the wind hadn't been blowing from east to west, he might not have caught it._Come on… come on… what are you? _The sound steadily became louder, and over the course of several seconds, he had pieced enough bits of information—height, speed, number—to make an accurate guess. _Oh, no. No!_

"FUCK!" he shouted. "Fuck!" He turned and ran over to the group. "Everyone, run! Take cover!" He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted out over the mountaintop. "TAKE COVER! INCOMING!"

"What is it?" Sarutobi demanded.

Naruto looked at his Hokage in fear. "Pointy things. Lots and lots and lots of pointy things coming _right at us._"

They stood still for a second, then looked up into the sky.

Had they looked even a few seconds later, it could have been too late to notice the veritable swarm of arrows, spears, shuriken, and kunai heading their way. They were now leaving the bottom layer of the clouds above. Whoever had launched them must have had a preternatural sense of aim and timing. Even setting distance aside, the sheer volume of weapons flying through the sky in such a tight-knit formation after such a distance was awe-inspiring.

There were way too many of them to avoid. People would die, and there wasn't anything anyone could do about it.

Naruto would be damned if he didn't try. "Hey, Kirābī!", Naruto shouted at the large Kumo-nin. "How's your throwing arm?"

B looked down at Naruto as if he was crazy. "What the hell ya talkin 'bout, fucka?"

"Can you throw me that far?" Naruto said swiftly.

"Well, yeah, but—"

"Then do it!" Naruto shouted.

"Listen, kid," Kirābī tried to say.

Naruto didn't let him get another word in. "I said _**THROW ME, MOTHER FUCKER!**_"

B didn't hesitate for a second. Both hands grew to enormous proportions, and changed form. Naruto didn't have time to think; B actually dug one hand into the surface of the mountain, his fingers gripping it for leverage, and used the other to grab Naruto around the torso. Without ceremony, he flung Naruto as hard and as fast as he could at the center of the incoming mass of projectiles.

* * *

Rōshi Shunshined next to B with crossed arms and looked up to the flying Naruto. "Good throw." He nodded in respect to the much-more-massive man.

"Thanks, I did my best! Now it's the kid's turn to pass the test!" B rapped out.

* * *

_This was a bad idea this was a fucking **BAD IDEA WHY DID IDO THIS**? _

**Because you're a fucking MORON you idiot! **Kyuubi snarled. **If we survive this, I'm going to kill you!**

_If we survive this, I'll let you! _Naruto screamed back at him. _Now just shut up and charge as much chakra as you can through my throat!_

**Are you thinking what I'm thinking? **Kyuubi said. **If so, tap your wind chakra, too! It will double the power!**

Naruto did as he was told, and focused all the wind elemental chakra as he could to his throat. Without the fine focus of hand signs, combined with the raw power of the Kyuubi, this was going to be rough, and possibly fatal.

Oh well.

Naruto was a boy who bottled things up. Though he seemed like a more-or-less well-adjusted person, in reality, he had plenty more insecurities and psychological hang-ups than the average person his age. The stress, the pain, the anger and horror he felt on a regular basis had been collected into the same tight little ball somewhere deep inside of him for years and years now. On the very rare occasions that he was able to release some of that stress, such as during a fight, some of it seemed to slip away. If he was in a life-or-death situation, he could use that little knot of worry as a sort of fuel and have that little bit left to go on. It was this that he had tapped into during his fight with Haku and Deidara. It wasn't on a conscious level, not even nearly, but under the surface, the dark half of his soul was there, and was more than willing to use his tragedies as a source of power.

It was now that it chose to let loose the dam that held it all in check.

Naruto screamed. He screamed for every tear he had ever shed, in anger and sadness, in joy and relief. He screamed for every life he had taken, for every parent that would never find their child's body, for every child that would never see his mama or papa again. He screamed for a world that was forever torn by war and anger and blood and steel. He screamed for innocents caught in the middle of a conflict not their own.

He screamed to survive.

He screamed to fight.

He screamed. The combined demonic and wind chakra stored in his throat and lungs let loose in a continuous roar. He whipped the Kazejin out and thrust it out behind him, to push him onwards against the reverse pressure of the roar. He put as much of his energy into it as he could, mingling every facet of his being into this one, single strike.

The weapons scattered like leaves in the wind. Left and right, up and down and backwards they went. The wind chakra converting directly to expelling breath again burned his lungs to the point past capacity several times over, and yet he knew that if he stopped for even an instant at this point, it would be all over. Hyper-effective healing powers or not, he would get speared several hundred times within seconds… then he would die.

He did NOT travel six hundred and eighty-seven miles in three days _by foot _to die like this.

_More chakra! _Naruto howled at the Kyuubi. _More! I need more!_

**I'm pushing as much as you can handle right now! **the fox snapped back. **Your human body is too frail!**

_Then… what if you morph my body? Partially transform it?_

The fox was silent for a terrifying moment. **That could work, **he admitted. **A full-bodied partial transformation could allow you to handle a hundred percent of my chakra… but you'd still get hurt.**

_I don't care! _Naruto said. _Do it! NOW!_

The effect was instantaneous. Usually, Naruto had to work at least to some degree to hold the red demonic chakra at bay. But with his permission, it coursed through his body faster than the speed of thought. His body, which so long ago had been permanently altered, responded so quickly he almost didn't even notice it happened. His arms thickened greatly in muscle mass, as did the rest of his body. His canines lengthened, he felt a fine fur grow about his body, and the nails on his hands and feet thickened into hard claws.

The output of his roar more than doubled. The incoming projectiles scattered all the more, and many actually flew back the way they had come roaring down. The air actually became visibly distorted in the sonic shockwave, possibly due to the excess chakra leaking from him as he flew toward it all.

And then… _Shit. _The added thrust he'd gained from the Kazejin wasn't enough of an opposite force to keep him going. All the momentum he had had from B's throw was gone, and even using the elemental sword, it wasn't enough to keep him aloft. For a sickening moment, he was stationary in the air, absolutely motionless; in that instant, he knew that it hadn't been enough. None of this had been enough to save anyone at all. Most likely, these weapons would have been launched whether the initial invading force had succeeded or not. His murder of those people… it didn't matter. He didn't have the strength to face them head on—he simply lead them into a trap, and sprung it tightly shut. Now he was the one in the trap; he had no idea just how many more instruments if impalement were heading toward him, how many he had actually managed to deflect, or whether it was even doing any good.

He gave up. He continued screaming, though more in frustration and anger than any righteous justice. He let the Kazejin die out, let the elemental blade peter back into its hilt. Instantly, he shot backwards, the force of his lungs still blasting incoming missiles back and away, but what with him shooting down and towards the mountain again, it didn't matter. Physics had decided that he was unworthy of protecting those who depended on him. The fundamental physical laws of the universe had decided that he didn't have what it took, that even when he gave it all he had, it simply was. Not. Good. Enough.

He gave one last scream, sending out as much chakra into the air through his lungs and past his lips as wind and sonic vibrations. He leaked out everything he had as hard as possible, sending everything he had into the air. Even if it would only save a few lives, he had to do it. Even if it destroyed his body, even if only a single, solitary soul was saved, it would be worth it. He had long ago decided that he would not be somebody's weapon, a tool to be manipulated. As young as he was, he knew the difference between right and wrong, and it would be wrong to give up now. He was tired, he was battered, and he was weary of all of this. He wanted nothing more than to take a break and relax. His aching lungs begged him to stop screaming, so soon after they had so nearly been torn apart by the harsh mistress of gravity. His raw throat protested in white-hot agony, and he could barely focus enough to think straight.

All of that considered… he couldn't just give up.

_Just… a… little… … more… I just need a little more… More… MORE CHAKRA!_

**You're taking all you can take! **Kyuubi insisted. **I'm already pushing your body past its maximum, baka! Any more and you will literally be torn apart!**

_I don't care! Just help me save them! Kyuubi, help me! I need your help, you damned idiot! Please! PLEASE help me save them!_

The fox was silent for a few seconds. Naruto felt himself falling further and further down, coming ever closer to the mountain. Too much farther, and he would be too close to them all to do any good. If he slipped up for even a second, it would be all over. **Naruto… I'm sorry, **Kyuubi said. He sounded genuinely apologetic. **I've done all I can. I'm… I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. It looks like this is the end. It's been a good run, though, hasn't it?**

Tears slipped from Naruto's eyes, only to be instantly blasted away by the concussion wave coming from his mouth. _Yeah… it has, hasn't it? We might as well go out with a bang._

…**Agreed. Naruto, give me your body. If this is it for us, I need you to trust me for at least this much.**

Naruto let control over himself slip to his Bijuu without hesitation. He didn't have it in him anymore to argue. It was easier than falling asleep, easier than relaxing to oblivion. He just let go of everything that he was, and became less of him, and more of the demon king in his belly.

Kyuubi wasted no time. The instant he had control over Naruto's motor functions, he made the boy's hands flow through a string of complex seals, many completely foreign to Naruto's knowledge. He halted the flow of wind chakra out of his lungs, and filled them entirely with his own. The fox then did something curious; he cupped his hands in front of his mouth, blew… what could only be described as a red mass of chakra into his palms, several inches in diameter and slightly asymmetrical, closed his hands around them, and brought them to his side. Kyuubi fortified Naruto's body with all the chakra he could further muster, closed his eyes for only a second, then flung them out in front of him with a fierce battle cry born of all the desperation in their combined souls. **"AKAYOMI SHOUKAN!"**

What could be described as nothing less than a great wall of seals sprung outwards from the hands that Naruto typically controlled. A great circle at least a hundred feet wide appeared mere inches in front of his hands, made up of characters unfamiliar to him no more than a few inches tall, all burning a deep scarlet. They flickered and danced, interposed by an almost opaque blackness that barely let any light through.

This was too much for Naruto to comprehend on such short notice. He had never envisioned something of this scale, of this incredible power. So much of Kyuubi's chakra had gone into the making of this array, even his neigh-infinite amount of raw power had taken a noticeable dent. _What the hell? Kyuubi, what is this… this __**thing**_?

Kyuubi snorted. **It's a gift, boy. A gift. I give you what you always wanted.**

Naruto's eyes widened. _What are you talking about? Kyuubi? What are you doing? What gift?_

Naruto could feel the pain in the fox's voice as it spoke. **This is the last thing I will say to you, child, so listen to me well. I've spent most of my existence as nothing more than a monster to be feared. I've been captured, I've been tamed, and I've been used. But you are the only one to ever say the word "please" to me. This is your reward.**

_Kyuubi? KYUUBI!_

**Be well, kit. **Naruto felt something inside of him disappear, disperse. Somewhere inside of him, in a part of his soul that he didn't even know existed, a piece of him suddenly became hollow. It wrenched his gut, and he felt as if he was about to vomit all of his internal organs at once. As if integral part of him had been erased, he felt suddenly incomplete. He almost wept once more at this sudden ache that he somehow knew that he would always, _always _feel.

Then something happened that almost made his faint from shock. The characters before him lit up in a blaze of brightest crimson, and the circle narrowed inward, inward, faster and faster until they all came together in the palms of his hands. A small ball, no bigger than the size of an apple, but it burned with the power and color of the sun at its set. In an singular moment of clarity, Naruto knew what this was, what it meant. He knew just what the Kyuubi had done, and what it had cost him. This was… this was the ultimate gift.

He would use it well.

The ball was perfect in every way. It was an almost-solid mass of pure, unfiltered, raw demonic chakra. This was a form of the ultimate technique any of the Bijuu could use. Kyuubi had given him the greatest gift possible—the ability to protect what he held precious. He could feel the rotating power held barely-contained within.

Though no more than a formality, he whispered two words that his father had one day dreamed of speaking himself. He whispered the words that he had spent years of study and effort into making a reality. He whispered the words that he had one day hoped to say in defense of his village, his wife, his son, and his dream. He whispered words that his father had hoped that his wife would one day help him bring to life.

Naruto whispered the words that could change the world. **"**_**Bijudama… RASENGAN!"**_

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes. He was once again laying down, though this time it was in a comfortable, if drafty, hospital bed. His clothes were gone, and the lights were bright. He took only a moment to take stock of his situation before he sat up straight and looked around.

He was in the hospital ward, as he had guessed. All of the shinobi gathered at the summit were around him, each and every one. Mifune, Moah, and a few other samurai were there as well. None spoke, few moved, and every eye was on him.

He took stock of the situation and assessed his predicament. A situation like this couldn't bode well. "I'm going to assume this has to do with what happened just now, doesn't it?" he said to nobody in particular. Nobody said anything to him, though a few shifted uncomfortably. "Er… anyone want to explain anything? How about we start off with just why I'm naked?"

Jiraiya coughed into his hand. "Your clothes were destroyed beyond repair, Naruto," he said. "Your weapons were lost, except for this…" He pulled the Kazejin out from a pocket. It looked scuffed, but none the worse for wear. "And this…" He tossed a battered and burned pouch from inside his jacket. It was the satchel that he'd put his most valuable scrolls and Hiraishin kunai in. "We found them beside your body."

Naruto heard that, processed it, then thought about it. "My… body."

Jiraiya nodded.

"Am I dead?"

"You were," said the doctor who had treated Haku and Yagura. "For twenty-three hours, you were clinically dead. There were no signs of life in you that we could discern."

"Twenty-three hours? How long have I been… whatever?"

"It has been over a day, Naruto," Sarutobi said gently. "You only came back to life an hour ago."

Naruto felt the blood drain from his face. This couldn't be happening. This had to be some sort of sick joke. He said as much.

Kakashi shook his head. "It's no joke, Naruto," he said. "Er… Jiraiya-san?"

Jiraiya sighed. "You were dead, Naruto," he said, repeating after the doctor. "You had completely run out of chakra. You had no pulse, no signs of life at all. Your brain had stopped functioning. Nothing we could do could bring you back. There was no way around it. _You were dead. _We never thought…" What appeared to be worry and apprehension, but also relief, tugged at his expression. "We thought we lost you, boy," he mumbled.

"I had come to see you… one last time," Sarutobi said. "I thought that I would at least give you your final respects." He dipped his head. "You were in the mortuary. I had hoped that it was just an illusion, that you were still alive, but that in itself was impossible. I tried to say something. I tried to tell you how sorry I was for everything I'd ever done to you. I just couldn't find the words. Naruto, I had given up hope. I couldn't bear to try to apologize to a corpse, not even yours." He dragged a hand down his face. "I was turning to leave, when I felt a disturbance in the air. I turned back to you, hoping against hope that you had somehow managed to fool us all."

"It was a miracle!" shouted Fū blurted out. "Hokage-sama shouted out really loud, we all came running, and you were glowing! You were glowing bright red, as if you had a chakra shroud around you! Your wounds started healing themselves, you reverted back to yourself—by the way, you died partially transformed, that was really freaky—and you didn't even have a scar to show for it! Look for yourself!"

Naruto, transfixed, did as he was told. He raised his right arm up to his eyes and looked. Not only did he not have the injuries that he knew he should have had—he vaguely remembered blasting himself into the side of the mountain, where he lost all consciousness—not a single one of his older scars remained. It was as if his slate had been wiped clean. "What? What happened to me?"

"We were hoping you could tell us," Jiraiya said evenly.

Naruto stared at his right hand. One day, several years before, he had accidentally cut the top of his hand when he let a kunai slip from his grasp while training. He tried to catch it, but missed it and got a gash for his trouble. It healed, but left a noticeable scar that up to today had never quite faded.

It was gone, now. Every scar that he had collected over his life was completely gone, erased, as if they had never happened. Every painful memory he had endured seemed to be soothed by calming cool waters. Like a jagged stone in a river that, with time, would be turned into a smooth pebble, the sharp edges of his painful past seemed to just fade away. It wasn't as if he had forgotten anything—if anything, he remembered it all the more clearly. But there were no pangs as he recalled the past, no spikes of worry or regret. He had, in all senses of the word, been cleansed clean.

"I didn't die," he said softly.

"Come again?" Kakashi said with a raised eyebrow. "Because all of the medical experts say you were _dead _for a day."

"They can say what they want," Naruto said. "But I didn't die. I was in a state of stasis."

"Stasis?" said the Kazekage. "What do you mean?"

Naruto waved a hand in front of his face. "My body had been pushed past the limits it could sustain. The… the Bijudama Rasengan…" A surge of dizziness hit him like a tidal wave. _The Bijudama… Rasengan…_

He remembered. He hadn't lost consciousness when he hit the mountain.

Something far, far worse had happened.

* * *

"_**Bijudama… RASENGAN!" **_Naruto roared as he thrust his hands forward. The ball of red chakra exploded outward in a wave of energy several hundred feet wide, wider than anything he had ever seen. The sheer amount of chakra manifesting itself violently in front of him was more than he could ever hope to conceive. _THIS WAS INSIDE ME ALL THIS TIME? _he asked himself hysterically. _WHAT THE FUCK!_

No… no, this wasn't from inside him. The chakra that had been in the first mass of chakra did indeed come from his body, but that had been used to create the massive seal array. The array itself was used to create some sort of gateway, some sort of hole in space and dimension. The chakra had been pulled from somewhere and stored inside of the Rasengan that Kyuubi had formed with Naruto's body and chakra.

The Bijudama absolutely destroyed everything in its path. In a space of less than a second, not a single weapon in its path was able to maintain a physical form. Each arrow, spear, and blade was stripped down to its component molecules and vaporized into the atmosphere. The crimson sheen the chakra held illuminated the white snow-covered landscape into a world more closely resembling the fiery pits of Hell itself.

Naruto was thrown backwards by the blast at what could only be marginally less than mach speed. He slammed into the head of the mountain at full force. He had barely been able to fortify his body in time before hitting it. Had he not, he would have ended up as a wet smear against it. He hit the nose of the mountain head facing the south-east at bone-crushing velocity, scattering all snow and ice close to him and created a crater over twenty feet in diameter. The raging chakra flowing from his cupped hands pressed him backwards into the unforgiving stone; no matter how he tried, he couldn't find a way to deactivate the jutsu.

_This is bad! Fuck, this is how I'm supposed to protect everyone? How can I protect them if my jutsu KILLS ME? _He struggled to gain his footing. It was difficult, especially with the uneven surface below him, but he_just _managed to stand on his own power. He kept the blast aimed where it had been before; no, more like he couldn't aim it anywhere else. His hands were locked in position, together and immobile. Wherever this chakra had come from, it was on the same level as Kyuubi's, and as immense and terrifying as the demon's had ever been. _How can I stop this thing? _he asked himself desperately. _Is it even possible, Kyuubi?_

_Kyuubi?_

_Kyuubi! _The demon didn't answer. _Sando! Where's Kyuubi? Where is that asshole?_

Naruto heard the Inugami hiss. **Kinda… busy… holding your body together, pup! **he snarled. **You don't know how much trouble you're in! I'm using all of the Doton chakra I have to keep you together. If you keep this up much longer, your body will break down!**

_I don't care! Where's Kyuubi? What happened to him?_

**I DON'T KNOW! I don't have time to go searching for him right now! It's taking all of my concentration to maintain muscular integrity! Now shut up and figure out how to stop this thing!**

_Damn it! Damn it all! _Naruto inched his way out of the crater. _Maybe if I… _He didn't finish the thought. The instant he left the crater, his left foot slipped on a patch of ice that had stuck to the mountain.

_Oh. _Shit. He fell onto his back, onto a pile of snow. His bare skin—wait, _what? _–slid over the ice as if there was no such physical force as friction. Faster and faster he went up the nose of the mountain, the angle of the Bijudama just enough to push him upward until he was almost to the top crown. Just another fifty feet or so, and he would reach the point of no return.

He hooked a foot on a passing stone to twist his body around, so that it was his feet point up to the top. _If I can just get some leverage… something, anything… I can stand again. _He tried, but failed, to catch anything to prop himself up. His clothing hung in tatters about him, and scraps fell away as he thrashed and struggled. _Help! I need help!_

"_Somebody help me!"_

A faint buzzing noise hit his peripheral hearing. He looked to his left and saw one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen—Fū, the one girl he considered a sister, flying at him with all her might. He was so close to the top of the mountain, could she reach him in time? _Please, please please hurry!_

Fū vanished, and seemed to cover three hundred feet in a single second. She appeared ten feet in front of Naruto, dug her feet into the snow, and bent down onto the ground and grabbed the soles of his boots in her hands as he slid into her grasp. "Hold on!" she shouted over the roar of the Bijudama.

"Easier said than done!" Naruto shouted back at her. "My arms are about to break!" His feet, pointed toward the middle of the mountain, were now pointed close to opposite of the Bijudama, with only about forty-five degrees angle difference. The propellant force was pressing him both down and away, and with each passing second he slid further over the freezing ice. If the blast didn't subside soon, he would push both himself and Fū down the mountainside, and tear apart a rather impressive chunk of the rock itself.

"Well, I'm open to suggestion!" she screamed. She had bent down onto her knees to get as much traction as she could, and her wings were buzzing at an ultrasonic speed, but it wasn't having too much of an effect. She was being pushed further and further with him over the ice and stone. She pushed her wings to their maximum speed, but they only halted for a second before she lost her footing and almost lost a hold of him.

She screamed as they almost zoomed over and down. There wasn't a chance for her to dig in once again; all she could do was struggle to keep her hands on him and thrust with all of her might. She was able to slow him down a little bit, but not enough. Not even close to enough.

_Kyuubi! _Naruto screamed again. _Kyuubi, quit fucking with me! I need your help!_

**He's no here, kid! **Sando shouted. **He's gone! I don't know how or why, but he's not here! just focus on surviving right now!**

_KYUUBI! _He didn't answer. The fox's voice which had so long irritated him at the most inopportune moments didn't respond to his one mental hails. _He can't be… no… _It was hopeless. If the Kyuubi had…

_This is it. I'm going to die._

"Pull yourself together, Uzumaki!" Fū shouted at him. "Snap out of it!"

Naruto focused on the girl. "Get out of here!" he told her. "Run! Save yourself! If something happens to me, I don't want you to get hurt, too!"

Fū shook her head and smiled wearily. "You idiot!" she said. "Did you forget already?" Her own demonic chakra appeared around her. Her wings grew larger still, and began to beat faster. "We are the Bijuu Corps! We stick together! So shut the fuck up and end that thing!"

He felt a glimmer of hope just then. Maybe all _wasn't _lost quite yet. "I can't! Kyuubi did something, it's going all by itself! I don't know how to stop it!"

Fū grunted. "Then we'll ride this out together, brother!" she said. "On three!" She tightened her grip on his ankles and shifted them slightly. Naruto picked up instantly what she was thinking.

"Got it!" he said. "One!"

"Two!" she said.

Simultaneously, "_**THREE!**_" She yanked on his ankles sharply, lifting him up and twisting him around in the air. For a brief, horrible second, he accelerated at him almost faster than she could see, but he got his feet onto the slick stone before he could slam into her.

The chakra blast flowing from the space between his hands had dropped about ten degrees in only a few scant moments, and he was running out of mountaintop before he dropped over the edge of the head and began shearing it off. He channeled as much chakra into his feet as he could, hoping in vain that it would grant him the necessary purchase to halt his movement, even for just a second.

Fū was doing all that she could, as well. The progress she had made with him before was now nearly nullified; she had caught him just as he was accelerating, placing her hands on his shoulder blades, and had bent forward and pushed the power of her wings to the limits, but she couldn't stop the two of them from sliding backwards. The pure unrestrained force of the Bijudama was too much for the two of them together to even hope to compensate for. Had the blast been horizontal rather than more-or-less diagonal, she would be hard pressed to find a force on earth to hold him in place.

"Naruto!" she shouted. "I can't hold on much longer!"

"What the hell was that about you being the strongest Jinchūriki?" he shot back at her.

She growled. "Strength doesn't count for shit without leverage, you jackass!" she shouted. "You're pushing us back too far! We don't have time! End that thing, if you don't want to turn this place to rubble! Hurry, Naruto!"

Naruto grit his teeth. He couldn't figure out a way out of this. Damned if he would let it end like this. No… not like this…

They stopped. Naruto grinned. "Damn it, Fū, I knew you could do it!" he crowed.

"Er… Naruto?" she said. "I didn't… er…"

Naruto looked backwards over his shoulder and gasped. Behind Fū knelt Rōshi and Yugito, both of whom had hooked a shoulder behind one of Fū's thighs and halted her backward movement. Their legs were locked in position, though even with their combined strength, they were forced to put effort into holding her.

Behind _them _was none other than Kirābī himself. Both of his hands had grown monstrously large, just as they had when he had thrown Naruto into the sky in the first place. He had plunged his fingers into the rock below them up to the palm, and used his massive frame as support for the whole lot of them.

As if all of that wasn't enough, even Gaara had pitched in a hand. Behind Kirābī's back stood a wall of sand larger than the man himself, ready to catch him should he lose his grip and the whole party came tumbling down. In short, when all was said and done, no matter how powerful Naruto's Bijudama Rasengan became, he wasn't going _anywhere._

"Where the hell did you guys come from?" he said with a laugh in his voice.

"We couldn't let you have all the fun, kid!" Rōshi replied with a smile. "People live here! It's bad manners to tear their homes down, even in the middle of a war!"

Naruto shook his head and grinned, even as his arms began to feel like they were about to implode. Now that he was no longer moving backwards against the blast, he was taking every foot pound of pressure directly. "It's always good to have manners!" he shouted. "Now, hold onto your balls, people! I don't know how much longer this is gonna go on!" He plunged once more into his psyche. _Kyuubi! Where the hell are you!_

Nothing but silence answered him once again. _God damn it you stupid fox! If you're playing with me, I swear I'm going to kick your furry ass! Answer me!_

**I keep telling you, pup, he's not there! **Sando said. **I don't know how, but Kyuubi's gone!**

_No! I don't believe it! I REFUSE TO BELIEVE HE'S GONE! Kyuubi, answer me, damn it! I need you! _Seconds of horrific silence followed his summons. _No… No! I need you! God damn it, I need you! _Tears again filled his eyes as he began to realize the horrible reality: whatever the fox had done, whatever that massive seal array had been, wherever he had gotten the insane chakra to fuel this Bijudama, it had done something to him. It had cost Kyuubi something to give Naruto this one last chance at survival. _That… that idiot…_

_**THAT FUCKING IDIOT!**_ Rage began to build inside of him. _He can't abandon me, not now! Not after all we've been through! _He focused on the core of power in his hands. _That dumb son of a bitch! He wanted me to have this thing… I'll push it to the breaking point! _He felt the construction of the Rasengan itself and analyzed it. He knew enough about its theory that he almost instantly realized what had happened; Kyuubi had somehow opened a rift in space and time to the realm of the underworld and tapped into the other half of his chakra.

_Oh… gods… _This was the half of himself that had been sealed away inside of the Shinigami over thirteen years before. Naruto was now holding in his hands a full half of the Kyuubi's infinite might. _This is pure Yin chakra,_he realized. _Holy shit._

A voice that seemed to come from inside of the Rasengan. **It's about time you picked up on that, instead of shouting, kit, **it said.

Naruto's jaw dropped. "What?" he gasped. "Kyuubi?"

**In one, **the fox's voice said, a tone of humor in it. **But not for long. I don't have much time, kid, so listen close.**

_What did you do?_

**I said LISTEN, not TALK! The seal on your stomach was put there by both your father and mother, but it is the result of summoning the Shinigami. The entirety of my chakra couldn't be taken by even him, but Minato managed to stuff half of me in his gut before he couldn't take any more. Now pay attention, this is where it gets rough. It was my Yin chakra sealed away; without it, I was literally half the beast I used to be. I used the energies of the seal to make a pact with the death god. One for one. Equivalent exchange. Shinigami gave up his claim on my Yin half for an even trade. **The Kyuubi was silent for a moment. **It was a good trade.**

_What? What could you possibly trade that could equal half of yourself?_

Kyuubi chuckled. **You're gonna like this, kid. **He sighed. **I can't even believe I did it. I must be such an idiot. The other bijuu are gonna have a good laugh when they find out what a softy you've made me.**

_Kyuubi, you're scaring your partner, _Naruto said. _What did you do?_

**Eh… the only thing I could have done to save everyone, kid, **he said. **In exchange for my chakras… I gave myself to the god of death. I gave him my soul.**

Naruto's blood turned to ice, and he nearly lost control of the Bijudama. _You… you… what?_

**It was a fair trade, **Kyuubi repeated. **You were almost out of wind chakra, and you couldn't have held that scream for much longer. Even if you had transformed fully, your own chakras were too depleted to be safe. Had you gone on much longer, you would have destroyed yourself. **He paused for a moment. **This was the only thing I could think of, kid, **he said. **You don't have much longer to go. Just hold on for another minute or so.**

**Pay attention, because this is even more important: when the Bijudama is complete, **_**all **_**of the expended Yin chakra is going to collect back into your body. Opposites attract, and my demonic Yin and Yang chakras will want to rejoin. When they do, your body will most likely be destroyed.**

_WHAT? _Naruto screamed in panic.

**Don't worry! You Uzumaki are strong! Your body will go into a coma-like state while the two chakras synch up. It will probably appear as if you were dead, but it will be far from that. When all of my chakras are perfectly in line, you will be reborn as something more than you have ever thought possible. This is my last gift to you, kid. Just take it, and quit bitching! Be a man!**

_There has to be another way! _Naruto screamed. _I won't let it end like this!_

**I'm afraid that you don't have much choice anymore, **Kyuubi gently chided. **This is it for me. **Naruto could feel his smile with his next words. **I'm glad I could do something good for once, boy, **he said. **I may have been a monster… but… I believe in you.**

_Kyuubi! Don't leave me! We'll figure out a way!_

**I'm sorry… **The kitsune's words were growing weaker, as if he had turned his back and begun walking away. **The world is in your hands now, **he said. **You are the Kyuubi now. Naruto… the power is yours.**

Naruto's body began to burn with exhaustion, even as the diameter of the crimson wave began to shrink. He couldn't bring himself to believe what the Kyuubi had told him. It was impossible… it couldn't be…

He was on his own, now.

He was done. The Bijudama shrank and withered, fading off into the dying sky to nothing. Naruto fell forward onto the cold stone and snow, all but naked, and felt his mind fade off into blank nothingness.

* * *

Naruto sat in stunned silence. In less than a second, a tidal wave of memories had returned to him. He squeezed the sheets covering him tightly and clenched his now-perfect teeth. "That… that idiot," he muttered. "That goddamn mother fucking ASSHOLE!"

Several of the shinobi before him flinched. He noticed, but didn't care. "That fucking idiot!" he roared. He swung his legs over the side of the gurney and stood, wrapping the sheet around his waist for modesty's sake.

"What are you talking about, Naruto?" Fū asked with a worried look in her eyes.

Naruto met her gaze. Of all the jinchūriki present, she knew him the best. "That asshole saved us all," he snarled. "He sacrificed himself for you."

Fū's eyes widened, as did most of the rest of them. "Naruto," Sarutobi said, "what are you saying?"

Naruto dipped his head and smiled without humor. "That idiot traded his soul for the other half of his chakra." He raised his head and shook it. "I have everything that he ever had. I am all that he was."

"Naruto!" Kakashi said. "You can't possibly mean…"

"Oh, but I do," Naruto said, cutting him off curtly. "That's exactly what I mean. The Kyuubi is dead." He closed his eyes. "Long live the king."

* * *

A/N: Wow. That's it. I can't believe I actually did this. I'm… I'm tired. I need to get some sleep.

Merry Christmas.

Read and review.

~dead witch


	40. Off Into War!

Hey, guys! Wow, I seem to be churning these things out, huh? Well, I'm off work for the holidays, so I really have nothing else to do, so… Yeah. FOREVER ALONE.

Wow, forty whole chapters, huh? It's kinda crazy. I'm only one away from having written four hundred THOUSAND words for this thing. Fuck, that's a lot.

Anyway, nothing to report that you don't already know. I'm having a good time with my family, spending time with my friends, and am enjoying the holiday pretty well so far.

I love your faces, so do me a favor and clickety clack that favorite button; it doesn't just help the story, it also shows you care.

Review answer time ENGAGE!

**Alcholic: Yeah, but that was written almost four years ago, by my reckoning… really should go back and change that, huh? Good catch, though. And thanks for caring enough to say!**

**Hinan Nightbreeze: Many thanks :D I do my best to make this thing good.**

**TimeShifter: *shrugs* Eh… had kinda forgotten you existed. Thanks, though, for reading. Whatever.**

**Twilight- The Moon Spirit: Gotta love Chekov's guns, they're a doozey, huh? As far as Naruto's status as the new Kyuubi… Well, what do you think?**

**ZeroLink21: I will!**

**Vizard: Sheesh! That was when I was still fleshing out my writing style! I don't think I'm that long-winded anymore! Chill, bro!**

**Cobra0000: Nah, Naruto's not the kinda guy who'd do that. Also, people change. Read on, figure it out. Also… god, I hate to do this, but… there is a chance that he miiiiight NOT be dead after all.**

**Ally: We can only get more epic from here. About six or seven more chapters to go before this arc is over with. Hold onto your underwear.**

**TheBiggestFish: Eat on!**

**Shinen no Hikari: I thank you for your kind words :)**

**Last of the Ancients: It is a rule that 90% of everything is crap. Music, art, literature, and so on. I strive to keep myself in the 10% where people like you enjoy being. Thanks for reading and reviewing!**

**Aikori Shukrai: I'd read a few things like that before, but not using the same ideas as I do. If I do anything like what other writers do, it's only because it's a good idea. I do my best to be original, and I think it shows.**

**Dragon Man 180: Naruto has ALL of the power of the Kyuubi, period. With the Yin chakra, he will have a more complete control of the demon power. As for Sage mode? Eventually, but that is WAAAAAAY down the line.**

**The Blazing Fire: I try to write balanced stories. Comedy and action and romance all have to play a part. Thanks!**

**Scythe3: Thanks for reading! Guess you liked it, you reviewed like six times! All questions will be answered eventually. Thanks for being there, bro.**

**ILoveThisStory2: With any luck, I'll be here for a good while. People like you make it all worth it.**

**RaptorJr: That's how I decided the characters should go. If you don't like it, don't read it.**

That's about it, I suppose. Read on and review!

* * *

**Chapter 40**

"Long live… what are you talking about, boy?" said the Tsuchikage, Onoki. "What is this drivel about the Kyuubi being dead? How can that be possible?"

Naruto looked at the old man for a moment before closing his eyes. He grimaced as he found the words he needed. "When my father sealed the Kyuubi in me the day I was born, my tenketsu weren't developed or strong enough to contain the entirety of his chakra. He summoned the Shinigami and divided his chakra in half, sealing the Yin chakra away, leaving me with only Kyuubi's Yang. The seal on my stomach was put in place to hold it in and moderate my usage of it. But that IDIOT used the portion of the seal placed on my by the freaking GOD OF DEATH to make contact, and a trade. In exchange for the rest of his chakra—the Yin to the Yang—he offered his own immortal, demonic soul."

The stunned silence in the room was frostier than one of Haku's constructions. "You _must _be joking!" barked the Raikage. "There's no way… no, you must be mistaken! It doesn't make any sense!"

Naruto glanced at the elder man. "No?" He shivered as a slight breeze from the vents prickled across his skin. "Just because something doesn't make any sense to you doesn't make it any less real. This happened." He gazed around the room confidently. "We can only move on from here."

He sat down on the bed again and rubbed his eyes. He wasn't tired in the least; his body truly had been returned to its former state—no, it was even better than before. He could feel just how much stronger he was, how his individual muscles had been taken to the peak of perfection. The old aches he had lived with for years now just… weren't there. He was almost literally a new person. "Do you still think that the best course of action is defense?" he asked aloud.

The Kage shared a quick glance. "Not exactly," said Sarutobi.

Naruto knew what he was thinking without needing any more said. "Oh, gods," he muttered. "You're seriously going to do it. You're going to retreat."

"It is the only logical choice we have, Naruto," the old man said gently. "You had died, and we had no idea that you would revive. We had—we'd given you up."

"We had more to concern ourselves than your death, as well," said A. "Reinforcements have slowly arrived from the east and west for over ten hours now. As of this moment, it appears that every mercenary, even the no-talent thugs from the fringes, have joined the army put together by Madara." The large Kumo-nin ground his teeth together. "They have more than replaced the shinobi you slaughtered yesterday."

Naruto closed his eyes and let out a small sigh. "Really now." He snapped his neck to the side, letting out an audible pop. "And how many—" He switched to the other side "—do you figure that they have right now?"

"We estimate that as many as four thousand have joined them already," answered Mifune, "and there are still more on the way."

Naruto gave no sign that he heard the samurai, save for the slight twitching of an eye. He sat there for a few moments in silence, stock-still, in thought. "I see," he finally said. He stood up with one hand clutched around the hem of the sheet. He looked over at Mifune. "Mifune-sama, I thank you for your hospitality thus far. I know that we shinobi have invaded your land for selfish reasons, and you have been _more _than gracious in your treatment of us." He bowed deeply at the waist. "On behalf of us all, I thank you for all you have done. But I have two more favors to ask of you."

The elder samurai was taken aback. Just what was this kid playing at? "You are welcome," he replied. "What do you need?"

Naruto straightened up and gestured at himself. "If you could have one of your subordinates lead me to a supply wing, I'd appreciate it. All of my clothes have been destroyed beyond repair, and I have no idea where my katana is. All I have are the Kazejin and a couple scrolls that survived, on top of a single Hiraishin. Also, with that, if you could have some other samurai gather up all of the Hiraishin kunai I used yesterday, that would be a big help; I'm afraid those are the only ones I had with me that I could recover."

Mifune nodded. "That is reasonable. It will take some time to collect all of them, but I'll have my men on that right away. Anything else?"

"Hn. When they all retreat, please escort them as far as is reasonable before returning. I know there's a lot of pressure on you right now, and you must be stressed beyond reason, but I would consider it a personal favor if you could see them as far as you can. I'm not asking you to sacrifice the lives of your men… if it gets to a hairy situation, have them use their own discretion. But my main concern is that they all make it out of here safely."

The old man dipped his head sagely. "That is the least that we can do." His mouth turned down. "Wait… what do you mean 'they'? Won't you be with them?"

Naruto shook his head. "No. While they are retreating, I'll be buying some time in the thick of the enemy forces. I can stall them for a while, I think."

The room exploded in a roar of shouts. Everyone began speaking all at once, some, including those who he knew personally, closed in on him and tried to get in a word. The room itself was not especially large, and nearly forty people speaking in an enclosed space like that was not conducive to this type of discussion. Naruto could barely make out any particular voice, not that he really tried. He had expected something like this to happen, but not to this magnitude. The shock and anger in some of their expressions, though, was startling.

Finally, he had had enough of the rabble. He leapt on top of the bed and shouted as loudly as he could, "ALL RIGHT, THAT! IS! ENOUGH! OUT OF YOU!" Without hesitation, they stopped shouting, much to his surprise. Now that he had their attention… it was time to make the most of it. "Good, let's calm down a bit, shall we? Now, if I may be so bold as to be able to _finish what I was about to say… _I would appreciate it." He carefully lowered himself back to his seat, conscious that he was, save for a thin hospital sheet, _completely _in the buff. "God, all you lot seem to do is make a noise, it's enough to give me a headache."

"Enough with the jokes, gaki," Jiraiya snapped irritably. "Just what do you think you're playing at, saying you'll cause a distraction? Are you mad? You can't take on all of them at once and hope to survive!"

"You'll get killed, Naruto!" Fū said. "Seriously, that's just crazy!"

Naruto shook his head. "So? So what if it's crazy? You all have a job to do, you Kage. Right now, we don't know how many more of these guys there are. The last time I heard, there were over seven thousand freelance mercenaries and nuke-nin out there, spread all around. Who knows how many of them there are left to arrive? We could very well soon be in a position where we're outnumbered over ten to one." He grabbed the back of his head and clutched his hair with frustration. "As it is, we're already at seven to one. I don't give a rat's ass how good we all are, or how powerful these samurai are. In this scenario, we're nothing but fucked. The _only _thing that we have going for us right now is that we know that they're afraid of storming the mountain. They don't know how I wiped their advance force out, and none of them want to be the first ones to see if I can do it again." He paused for a moment, and frowned. "Technically… huh. I guess I could do it again at this point, if I wanted to." He shrugged. "But I'm not going to. It's not something that I want to do again any time soon.

"Anyway… that leaves us with a few options, like we were talking about yesterday. We can either attack, retreat, or stand our ground. I'll be honest—if we attack right now, we'll most likely all die horrible, violent deaths. The military leadership of the Five Great Nations is represented here, but what'll happen if all of you kick the bucket on the same day? Do you really think that the structure that we've built for the past six decades could stand up to that power vacuum? No way. And if we stay here, we're just inviting trouble. The only thing that you can do is make a tactical retreat. But you can't do that if there's an army behind you, and you can bet that there are watchdogs on us even now to verify our positions." He leaned forward slightly. "If you all are going to get away, there's only one thing to do: retreat and stick together until you are safe. I know you might not like each other very much, but it is critical that you make it out of here in one piece.

"You have a new responsibility, Kage: up until now, your jobs have mainly been to maintain the status quo put in place by your forbearers. But by now, you know that this can't continue. You have to be a force of real change in this world. You _must _put aside your prior differences and grievances and work to preserve what we have, and make sure that the world can survive this catastrophe that is about to happen. Uchiha Madara once tried to destroy the shinobi world already… we can't let him make his second time count. You all… you all hold the hope of this world's future in your hands." He closed his eyes and looked down. "I'm counting on you. Gather all of your forces. Get them all together. Coordinate. Then, when you have everything done… _crush Madara until he's dust."_ He stepped forward; though the Kage and several of the others remained still, quite a few flinched, or even took an involuntary step backward. Somehow, Naruto had become an overwhelming presence before them, extruding an almost palatable aura of authority. "Go. Protect each other. I'll keep them busy."

"But Naruto! You could be killed!" Sarutobi said. "It's one thing to be a distraction, but you're contemplating suicide! I cannot let you do this alone!"

Naruto smiled. "Nah, I'll be fine," he said, waving off the Hokage. "Besides…" He dug a hand into his pouch and withdrew the one Hiraishin kunai he had left on his person. He flipped it over to Sarutobi, who caught it without looking. "If you keep hold of that, if it gets too messy, I'll be able to find you anywhere you are. You really don't think I'd be going in there _expecting _to die, without any plan b?"

The looks on the faces of those who realized they had just been had were _priceless._ "You idiot," Fū muttered, rubbing her forehead. "Quit trying to look like the hotshot hero! We thought you had lost your mind for a minute there!"

Naruto grinned up at her. "You know me," he said. "Always saving damsels in distress." Fū ruffled his hair affectionately and, despite herself, smiled back. He had been through a lot in a very short amount of time, but he seemed to be handling it well. How much of that was genuine, and how much of it was him simply holding it inside where nobody could see it, she didn't know.

"And what do you think you can do to hold off an entire army?" said Onoki.

Naruto smiled slyly at the Tsuchikage. "I've got a few ideas," he said. "Have some faith in me. I'll be able to hold the line for a while. My father left me with a bit more than the Sougon Bakudan. You'll know when to bug out, once the time comes."

"How will we know?" Kakashi asked laconically. "It's not like we'll be able to see from here… they are based over ten miles away."

Naruto's smile widened a bit, turning all the more sly. "Oh, you'll know. Just keep an eye out over the horizon. But I'll need some help, I think…" He looked up at A. "Raikage-sama… Your strongest trait is lightening, isn't it?"

A nodded. "It is. Everybody knows that. Why do you ask?"

Sarutobi gasped as Naruto raised a palm. The symbol for lightening was inscribed on it in a pulsing yellow character. "I have an ability to absorb elemental chakras, and lightening is the only one I don't have any in store at the moment. I've heard that you have a jutsu that surrounds your body with lightening to add power to your unique style of taijutsu. If I could borrow a few volts, I'd be grateful."

A's mouth quirked. "Is that so," he muttered. "And what would you do with this chakra?"

Naruto smiled and slowly looked up at the ceiling. "I'd show Uchiha Madara just what happens to those he leaves alive," he said softly.

A nodded after thinking about this for a moment, then crossed his arms in front of him. A split second later, his body suddenly erupted with a powerful blue aura laced with blue-white arcs of lightening. The shinobi close to him leapt backwards; even the slightest touch from him while he was in this state could cause grievous bodily harm. This was the raw power that had been passed down to him from his father, the Sandaime Raikage, one of two jutsu that made him one of the very few who could be considered "invincible." "I warn you, boy," he said, "I have almost as much chakra as my brother. Do you really think you can handle mine?"

Naruto looked the bulky man in the eye and held out his hand. "Try me," he said.

Before Naruto could say another word, A closed the distance between them and grasped his hand, engulfing it with his massive palm. The effect was instantaneous; a surge of electricity began flowing into Naruto's body. Lightening snaked from A's aura into his hand to be absorbed into his hand, crackling like fireworks, so much so that his own arm was surrounded by A's own aura. Naruto had been zapped by static electricity before—this was the same sensation, but multiplied by several thousand times, all over his body, and in a continuous surge that had no end in sight. Sando was absorbing all of the juice that he could, but there was so much sheer overflow that even the remaining demon inside of him couldn't take it all in. He had underestimated just how powerful the Raikage was… but he wouldn't back down now.

_Sando, tell me when you reach the breaking point! _Naruto told the Inugami. _I don't think that A will stop until we've had enough!_

**We're almost there already, pup! **Sando said. **In fifteen seconds, your tenketsu will burst! Tell him to stop, now!**

_Not yet! Not until we've filled it all! We need it all to pull this off! _Naruto grit his teeth and concentrated on taking it all in. The stern look of the Raikage's eyes seemed more of a challenge than anything. They seemed to be saying, _you asked for it, let's see what you have._

_Just hold on for a little longer, Sando! _Naruto tightened his grip on A's hand. His entire body by now was sheathed in arcing lightning bolts, making all of the hairs on his body stand on end. He felt the hair atop his head stand on end with the electricity, and he suddenly became giddy with the pure energy coursing through him.

All of a sudden, the sheet around his waist disintegrated, cut to microscopic shreds by the sheer power surrounding him. A cloud of cotton fragments exploded around them like a strange smoke bomb, dusting the walls and everything around them with white. **Naruto, I'm serious! Enough!**

Naruto yanked his hand away from the Raikage so forcefully that he fell backwards against the bed, stumbled over it, and fell off to the other side. "Naruto!" shouted Jiraiya and raced to his side, careful to stay out of A's way. "Gaki!"

Naruto grasped the edge of the bed and hauled himself up. Small arcs of lightening still stirred around his body as he shook his head, trying to get rid of the disorientation of the tumble. "I'm all right," he mumbled as he straightened. "I'm good." He breathed in and out slowly, letting his tenketsu adjust to the massive influx of foreign chakras. His entire body was thrumming with energy, and he felt as if he could run for five days continuously without even taking a break. He didn't just feel good… he felt beyond human belief.

"Is this how you feel every day?" Naruto asked A. "This invigorating power… holy _shit. _I want to move! I want to tear through walls!"

Darui, the dark-skinned bodyguard of the Raikage, groaned and shook his head. "Please, don't," he said. "Raikage-sama rarely uses doors… he's responsible for one out of ten construction work in Kumo as it is."

"Shut it, Darui!" A barked over his shoulder. "I'm energetic, is all!"

Naruto chuckled. "How do you contain this power all the time?" he asked.

A frowned. "What are you talking about? I didn't even give you four or five percent of my lightening. You pulled away well before I thought you were done."

Naruto cocked an eye. "Seriously? Four percent?"

A grinned viciously back at the younger shinobi. "Not _even._"

"Holy shit," Naruto mumbled, though with a small smile. "Sarutobi-sama? I know I say this kind of thing all the time, but please remind me not to get into it with your counterpart, will you? I'd rather not end up as a greasy smear on some ceiling."

The mood lightened then in the room. "Remember yourself," Sarutobi said.

Naruto nodded, then looked down. The expression on his face as he realized that he was completely naked was priceless. He blushed, but made no attempt to cover himself. He looked over at Mifune and said, "Er… Mifune-sama? How about those pants?"

Balancing power in most situations is a tricky proposition. In the best of circumstances, it is a dance of delicate steps; when the participants moving about in perfectly choreographed paths keep to their strictly-set lines, all should be well. But there is always a chance that one person could take a single misstep and ruin a whole production. Even those most like-minded could eventually come to blows, physically or philosophically, and have their goals slowly drift apart.

There once was a time when Uchiha Itachi had some little faith in the man called Uchiha Madara. When he had been young and still impressionable—yes, as powerful as he had been as a boy, he was still a boy—he had been convinced to undertake a horrible task by his Hokage. He had been a part of the clan's political structure long enough to know that there were enough strange whispers in the dark corners of his home just out of earshot that held a tone that bode no good. The stirrings of rebellion had been brewing in the Uchiha blood for over three generations, ever since they had been granted the "honor" of being Konoha's police force by the Nidaime Hokage. Imagine… the leader of the clan that had once been their own mortal foes extending the olive branch to act as his enforcers, to act as his _dogs_… such an act would leave a sour taste for decades to come.

It wasn't until he had become the youngest captain of the ANBU in history that he had been officially taken into the fold. As the next leader of the Uchiha clan, much was expected of him in the future, as well as the present. He had been told all of his life that the Uchiha were the strongest, that they had always been the most important and prestigious, not only in the village, but the world. But it wasn't until he had turned thirteen that the cold, hard truth had been given to him: for the past two decades, the Uchiha had been making slow, steady plans for revolution and revolt.

Itachi had been the youngest to ever fight in the third world war. He had grown rapidly as a child prodigy from an extremely young age; when they had been desperate for shinobi, even he had been pressed to the front lines. Somehow, he had survived, but not without receiving his own scars, mental and physical. He was strong for his age, no doubt about it, but that didn't change the fact that he was still a scared little boy, and the things that he had seen and done had left their marks upon him. He had seen enemies cut to ribbons close enough for his short arms to reach, and he had incinerated more than a few of them with his clan's most powerful fire techniques.

He had also had his own allies fall dead at his side. His most traumatic experience, though, had been the time when several of his fellow Konoha shinobi had given their lives to protect his own. The image of their pulverized corpses before him had shaken him so much that he could only lay in the blood-soaked, muddy earth for hours, whimpering while the battle raged one around him. His side had won that fight, the last one of the war, but at a heavy cost.

He had woken up in a field hospital being treated for shock. Apparently, he had come to and gone out multiple times, screaming and crying, before he fully was aware of his surroundings. In the dark, starless night later on, he promised himself one thing: he would never fight again.

Of course, that wouldn't be the case. He was Uchiha, and the rising star of his clan. His elders looked on him with such hope, lavishing him with all the praise they could. They told him that he did very well for himself, that he had represented the Uchiha well in the war. Perhaps they had expected more of him, but it was still a rare feat for one as inexperienced as him to come out of a battle like that one alive.

It was then that Itachi began to hate his clan. He began to see it as a festering sore on the world, as a cancer, a blight. He didn't rebel, he didn't resist their teachings… but he finally saw it for what it was: power-hungry, vengeful, and above all, sick. They and all like them were sick, sick for power, for glory, for recognition. They longed for the days when the name "Uchiha" wasn't simply feared or respected, but when the mere thought of a Sharingan in the midst of hardened warriors could drive them away in terror. They all still believed that it was Madara who had the right to be Hokage; yes, their forbearers had been the ones to tell Madara that they wanted peace, but they didn't know the true cost of that peace. They had thought that by joining the Senju, they could build a conquering army that would unify the shinobi world.

And what did they get for their troubles, in the end? They were charged to keep the peace in a single village.

Itachi had long known of the animosity the Uchiha had held for the Senju before whispers of rebellion made their way to him. He knew that should the Uchiha stage an uprising and state a "with us or against us" message to the village, a new world war would surely erupt. He couldn't allow that to happen. When he was made captain of his own ANBU squad, his own father had told him that his duty was not to the Hokage that they had sworn to serve, but to his family, his clan. His one and only duty was to follow his law, _his _creed. He wanted Itachi to spy on Sarutobi and glean whatever he could, find the man's weakness. Sarutobi Hiruzen was old, too far into his regime of Hokage to see the big picture. Further war was inevitable. If he was to hold onto his pacifistic stance, only destruction would come to the village he held so dear. The _only _course of action that would preserve the village and what his clan had always thought it stood for was to take control. The Uchiha had to make the world know that they would _not _again be second-class citizens. It was THEM who had made the world what it was… and they would prove it, no matter what it took.

They had made a fatal mistake when they had ordered Itachi to be their agent—unlike the vast majority of them, the young Uchiha Jounin was loyal to a fault to his Hokage. The agent had quickly turned into a double agent… the boy, tasked to spy on his master, now spied on his father.

It was not long before the Hokage's personal advisors and the old man called Danzo came to him with a mission that he could not turn down: the assassination of his entire clan. Though he had remained expressionless, his blood had run cold. _How… how… _He had no words to say.

Some weeks later, the one claiming to be Uchiha _Madara _appeared to him. He told the boy that he had heard of his plight, and offered his assistance—at a price. He would have to kill his own friend, his own flesh and blood, to prove that he was worth helping. At that time, he didn't know that doing so would awaken the Mangekyou—that doing so would damn his soul.

Flash forward eight years. He was no longer the boy he had been. He was a part of the most powerful terrorist organization in the world, working together with a man who had promised him peace… but had done precious little to bring it about. His brother's life was the price that had been paid to ensure his loyalty… but was that price too high?

Or was it far too little?

Madara had not so much as bought his loyalty as bought his conscience. The fanatic, Nagato, honestly believed the drivel that Madara had been feeding him. Though strong in soul and technique, Nagato's mind was weak and easily influenced. That Madara had so easily wrapped the powerful Rinnegan-user around his finger only brought on frightening thoughts… the least of which was "Just how much have I been manipulated?"

There were two options: confront Madara himself… or his fellow puppet.

Itachi left his tent and made his way through the snow-covered land to see the god called Pain.

Of all of the Akatsuki, only Itachi and Madara himself knew the true identity of Pain, or had seen the man himself, personally. Itachi had never been under the illusion that Pain was the true leader of the Akatsuki group, but he had helped foster that image to keep the rest of his fellow terrorists in line. Should any of them have known that it was Uchiha Madara pulling their strings behind the scenes, who knew what pandemonium would have ensued? Thus, they had all been fed little lies to maintain their loyalty, and promises had been made to them all in due course. Some had sought application, some had been recruited, and still others had been blackmailed into enlistment. But the fact that any one of them held the power to destroy a small nation at any given time was a point to ponder; was all of this really necessary for the cause?

Itachi knew the true origins of Akatsuki; in the beginning, yes, it had been a mercenary group lead by the three prodigious students of the Sannin, Jiraiya. Their mentor had instilled in them an ideal similar to those held by most Konoha shinobi: fight to protect, fight to defend, but never fight simply to fight. It wasn't until they had been betrayed by the leader of Ame that things had begun to change… Madara had approached Pain and had shown him a vision of a world without war. All Pain needed to do was follow his orders, and a new world order would soon be realized.

It was amazing what the sale of your heart and soul would get you promised.

Pain had situated himself well north of the main camp, deep in the snowy mountains. He was in a cleverly-concealed cave that dug deep into the heart of the mountain where he could ensure his body's safety. For a man who called himself "God", he had one glaring weakness—after divesting all of the power of his eyes into his corpse puppets, he was left defenseless. If anyone could find him alone… he could easily be taken care of.

Itachi found his hiding hole easily enough. He was no sensor type, but his Sharingan could see the chakra in the air connecting him and his puppets still outside the mountain on patrol. Four, it seemed, were moving around the mountain; that left two inside with him. When he was three hundred feet from the entrance, the rock at his feet crumbled and blew apart in a hail of gravel. Itachi had Shunshined away before he could be touched, however, and appeared on a boulder some distance away.

There, standing in the same robe as he, was one of Nagato's puppets. It was the one who most of the Akatsuki thought of as their leader, when in fact it was nothing more than the corpse of his dearest friend. Madara had told him the story of how he had been forced to kill him all those years ago… just as his cousin, Shusui, had convinced him to be his own executioner. Though the age difference between them was over two decades, at the heart of it, they really were quite alike.

It would be a shame if he had to kill him.

"We need to talk," Itachi said evenly, apparently not taking offense to the fact that he had been attacked without warning.

Pain stared down at him with expressionless Rinnegan eyes. "Then talk," he said.

"Face to face," Itachi insisted, his Sharingan subconsciously activating. He possessed an ability many Uchiha had coveted, the ability to have his Sharingan activated at all times with an absolute minimum of chakra expended. He had come here in good faith, and had consciously chosen to turn it off. However, the situation was not what it once was; he needed every advantage he could get should things turn ugly.

"That is not necessary," Pain said. "What you need to say to me can be said here." Itachi knew that Pain was as set in his ways as anyone else; in the entire time that he had been a part of Akatsuki, he had only met the man once, and only on request of Madara.

"I'd rather see you personally," Itachi said. "I assure you, I am not wasting your time… nor do I wish you harm." He glanced to his left and saw that another of the man's corpse puppets had shown up already—this one the older-looking, muscular one. The two of them eyed him for a moment before the first one nodded. "Come," he said, then vanished.

Itachi followed it up over the boulders and steep craggy edges. The snow and ice made the mountain-side slippery, but it was no trouble at all for Itachi to navigate. After only a moment, the corpse lead him to a boulder that looked like any other. With barely a touch, it slid to the side, revealing a tunnel completely devoid of light. Itachi followed him further into the oppressing dark.

The tunnel took several twists and turns that Itachi easily navigated; beside his Sharingan's almost supernatural ability to see in the dark, the sound of the corpse in front of him lead him true. After the sixth turn, he began to see some light at the end of the tunnel, and he almost… _almost… _smiled at the foreboding idea. The tunnel opened up into a small cavern, some forty feet wide at its diameter, twenty feet high, with a few electric lamps strewn here and there to ward off the darkness. There was no source of heat that he could see, but then again, he didn't think Pain cared all that much for comfort. And after seeing Nagato in the light… that was something exceedingly easy to believe.

Nagato had become something both greater and less than a mortal man. He had been born with the power of what some thought was the very first to master the shinobi arts, the power of the god of shinobi. But in times past, he had become severely crippled on the day his comrade had died, and had eventually been forced to merge his body with an obscene machine simply to stay alive. It was with this machine that he used to control his corpse puppets and channel his powers through them. It was like this that he became, at the same time, the most powerful and the most pitiful man that Itachi had ever seen.

Pain was rarely seen, in any situation, without the sole woman Akatsuki, Konan. She was always either with the man himself, or alongside the corpse of his friend. "Where is Konan?" he asked evenly.

Pain grunted. "She is helping prepare the field hospitals," he said.

Itachi paused. He was not necessarily a cruel man; he knew the value of emergency medical care. But he had no idea that Konan really cared. "I didn't know that she was a medic," he said.

Pain shook his head. "She's not. She is just too soft for her own good." Pain narrowed his Rinnegan eyes. "Enough. What is it you came to me to speak about?"

Itachi took a moment to collect his thoughts. Beside the man, he had a total of four of his corpse puppets with him. Should he say the wrong thing, he would be hard-pressed to survive a physical encounter with the invalid. It wouldn't be _impossible… _but in a confined space such as this, it would take everything he had simply to escape. "You and I need to talk about Madara," he said. "I need to know whether I can trust you or not."

Pain narrowed his eyes. "Watch what you say, boy," he said. "Your loose words will be the death of you one day."

"Do you trust Madara?" Itachi said, without any sign of worry. "Are his current activities congruent to the promises he made to you when you first met?"

"The path to peace is one littered with bodies," Pain shot back. "Certain things have to be done for us to achieve our end goal. You know that… _pacifist._" Pain said that word as if it was some sort of slur, a derogatory meant for the lowest of the low.

"I see… I have been wondering about that," Itachi said. "That nonsense about gathering the bijuu to make a weapon that you've told the other Akatsuki… you don't actually believe it, do you?"

Pain smiled very slightly and closed his eyes. "Whether I do or don't, it doesn't matter. Madara's mind is his own—even I could not get into it. But I support his goals, if those goals can rid this wretched world of war."

"Even if it would mean destroying everything in the way?"

Pain nodded. "Even then," he said.

Itachi considered the man for a moment. "Madara doesn't care for either of us, you know. We are only puppets to him."

"We are all puppets, in one way or another," Pain acknowledged. "All that matters, really…" His main corpse puppet picked up the line. "—is who is pulling the strings."

He had his clothes. He had his sword. He had a shiny new set of kunai and shuriken. He had all of his Hiraishin kunai sealed into a scroll. Uzumaki Naruto was ready to take to the field.

As the sky darkened above, he thought on his chances of surviving the day, and came to the logical conclusion: this was most likely to be his final fight. He had had a pretty good run so far, and there wasn't much that he had done that he would be ashamed of. With any luck, he could stall the armies over yonder long enough for the other shinobi to get away to safety. If not… he had to hope that his message to Sasuke and Hinata had gotten through, and they were hot on the way with reinforcements. The ideal scenario would be for the incoming Konoha shinobi to intersect the Council members just as they were being engaged… but that was contingent on two factors: them _surviving _long enough, and pretty much everyone loyal to the Hokage leaving with his friends.

_Let's do this, _Naruto thought as he stepped off of the mountainside.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Fū said quietly as she watched the boy she had begun to think of as her younger brother disappear from view. "

"As do I," said Yugito. The women were side by side in the snow, each with their arms crossed over their chests against the cold. "I've seen people walk off into certain death before. He had the same look on his face as they did." She looked over and down at her kohai. "I don't think he intends to use that kunai to come back to us. I think he'll fight for as long as he can to buy time, no matter what."

Fū shivered. "I think you're right," she whispered. "That idiot…"

The remaining jinchūriki were gathered together to see the boy off, with their leaders behind him. It was a sort of quiet, solemn ceremony that they watched Uzumaki leave from them for their sake. "This isn't right!" said Fū. "We can't just let him run off like that! He'll get himself killed!"

"And if that is the boy's destiny, then so be it," said the Kazekage. "He is willingly sacrificing himself so that we may escape. If you do not want it to be in vain, then honor him by getting out alive."

"But—"

"Do you think I like this any more than you, girl?" the Kazekage snapped. "Running like dogs… it leaves a sour taste in my mouth." He grimaced under his mask, wrinkling his eyes. "But it is the only course of action that gives the majority of us even the slimmest chance of survival."

"You may be right," said Sarutobi. "But still… don't you wish you were fighting anyway, Kazekage-dono?"

The Suna-nin looked over at his elder, a small smile touching his eyes. "Well… yes. It has been quite a while since I've had a good fight."

Shibuki broke from them and went to Fū, the other jinchūriki parting for him. "Fū," he said softly. "What is your heart telling you right now?"

Fū was surprised. Though she knew her cousin cared for her deeply, her personal feelings were rarely a factor in decisions. "My heart—" She placed a hand over it and closed her eye. "My heart is telling me to go chasing after that boy and make sure he doesn't kill himself. But—"

Shibuki shoved her in the back with force she didn't know he had, sending her flying off over the edge of the mountain. She screamed, more in surprise than anything, and her wings sprouted from her back, through the slits specially designed for them. "What the hell, Shibuki?" she shouted at him, buzzing in close to him and poked him in the chest.

"You idiot!" Shibuki shouted back at her. "Go on after him!"

"But—"

"And that goes for you lot, too!" Shibuki continued, rounding on the other jinchūriki. "That boy is putting his life on the line just so you can run! But remember why we came here—he wanted to _unify _the jinchūriki so that they would never again be used as tools! He asked you to join him, and you said yes—but when he needs you the most, you just let him go!" Shibuki knew full well that he was talking to a group of people who, individually, could kill him without too much effort. He didn't care. Things needed to be said. "I thought you were the Bijuu Corps," he said, his tone dropping. "But it looks like you're happy to run given the first opportunity. You…" He shook his head. "Saiko and I will still remain behind and guard the Sanbi. Even more than ever, it is critical that it doesn't fall into Madara's hands. The question you have to ask yourselves is… is your resolve less than his?"

He turned from them and walked back towards the Kage and their men. "Come on, Saiko," he said to his subordinate. "We have a lot of work to do, still."

Fū watched as he disappeared down into the mountain fortress with an amazed expression. "What… what just happened?" she asked nobody in particular.

"I _think _he just called us all a bunch of pussies," said Utakata with a small smile. "What do you know. Who'd have thought the runt had it in him."

Fū's eyes blazed; in the space between heartbeats, she had closed the gap between her and him and grabbed him by his jacket's lapel. "Don't you _dare _disrespect Shibuki like that!" she shouted.

Utakata wasn't fazed. "Prove him wrong, then," he said, his lips bare inches from hers. For a scant second they remained still, until Fū nodded.

"You with me?" she asked him.

Utakata smiled, and nodded. "I don't have anything else to do."

"Any who don't want to come with us, that's fine," Fū said without breaking eye contact. "I won't think any less of you. But I promise you one thing: if you don't, and I survive, I will spend my life making you remember this day. I will show up at your village on your birthday, force you to wear a skirt, and shout to the world that you are the prettiest princess ever." She looked at her spiritual kin. "Call. My. Bluff."

It wasn't every day that Sabaku no Gaara actually felt a real trace of terror, but on this day, from this girl, he realized that she indeed could do that to him. It wasn't that he couldn't kill her—he thought that with a few more years of training, perhaps, he could do it quite easily—but she did seem the type to do something like that and get away with it, if only for its sheer audacity. "You wouldn't," he said.

"Try me."

Gaara crossed his arms and thought for a moment, and came to the logical conclusion. She would do it, and he couldn't stop her. He sighed, but let out a small smile. "Come on, Bijuu Corps," he grumbled. "Let's go save that fool."

A/N: That's the end of that chapter. I warn you, it gets pretty messy from here on in. I'll be writing more action sequences in the next three or four chapters than ever before. If you're reading this far, that shows you care, so I'd like to announce my first contest in about three years: the "Original Jutsu Whammy" contest! I'd like for you to each send me a private message with an original jutsu of your creation, whether nin, tai, or gen. Name, effects, rank, restrictions, the whole shebang. If you're lucky, a shinobi who'll fit the profile will use it in upcoming chapters!

That's it until after the new year. Been great, people! Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year!

~dead witch


	41. Interesting Times

Hey, guys. It's been a while. The dead witch here, reporting in.

Gotta keep this brief, I have work pretty soon, and can't spend too much time getting this out of the way if I want this uploaded before I have to leave.

Time to answer some reviews!

**Dragon Man 180: That's coming pretty soon, don't worry. Already have most of this planned out, and that fight will be legendary.**

**J.A. Johnson: Sorry about the induced reading binge, but thanks! If I make people want to read for hours at a time, I'm doing my job! I'm not a huge fan of "super Naruto" stories, but I hope this was done better than most others. **

**Sir Nyan of Canterlot: Just you wait. Eventually, I'll be incorporating that into my personal fanon. It'll be pretty sweet!**

**Shinen no Hikari: I'll try to keep the pace fairly steady. I'm planning four or five major fights, with maybe two minor ones here and there. It's not gonna be easy, but please, stick around. Also, Hinata and Sasuke will make an appearance soon enough, that I promise.**

**Twilight- The Moon Spirit: Those Guns are fun sometime :D I'll go back and look at it, see about those page breaks. Thanks for the heads up.**

**Draco Oblivion: You posted a LOT of reviews, thanks, but I'd prefer like once every four or five chapters? You obviously enjoyed it, and I appreciate that!**

**Clutsy gurl97: Thank you for your kind words! Hinata and Sasuke will make an appearance… _right _when the plot needs them. You'll see.**

**Lord Arashikaze: Here you go! I know the Bijudama Rasengan's been done to death, but I think I did it all right! Thanks for your support!**

**Echo Writer: I'm glad that you're enjoying this! Hit me with your jutsu, let's see if I can incorporate it in. Rōshi's gonna get BADASS later on, and I need more to work with.**

That's really about it right now. Ya'll take care! Love your faces!

* * *

**Chapter 41**

As Naruto fell down the side of the mountain, he realized that he was in no way a sane person. He had volunteered himself to run headlong into an army that he had no chance of beating, with only a few weapons worth speaking of, half a plan, and no backup whatsoever.

No matter how he looked at it, the situation was quite grim. He was heading off to fight an army some five or six thousand strong, on top of an organization specially crafted to be able to take him and his fellow jinchūriki out. When he had told them that the best chance they had was to fight the Akatsuki on a two-on-one circumstance, he hadn't been lying. Selfishly, though, he wanted this fight. He wanted to be the star, the center of attention. He wanted to make them all focus on him, give him chase. The longer he could have them after his head, the longer they wouldn't be going after the Kage, the jinchūriki, and the rest of them.

He was ready for his final fight. He was ready to be the martyr for the cause. These realizations gave him a surprising calmness; it was if by accepting his fate, he could go into battle without regrets or remorse. Sometimes, sacrifices had to be made, but he wasn't willing to put anyone other than himself in danger if he had a choice. Yes, he was stubborn and bull-headed, but the fact of the matter was, he had put them all in this position in the first place, and he would be damned if any of his nakama would die for his poor decision.

He hit the mountain's incline and shot down it at a run without hesitation. Less than a minute later, he was at its base and set off into the forest. His stomach lurched when he had to cross over the compressed land that he had used to kill more people than he had ever met in his life. He kept his bile down, though, as he leapt once, twice, and three times over the snow-covered fallen trees and into the forest itself. Without conscious thought, he wove through the trees, kicking up plumes of snow as his chakra-laced soles gave him the traction needed to ignore the slick ground below.

Sando, he said to his mask as he pulled a Hiraishin kunai from his pouch. You know what to do. Naruto had almost zero experience in manipulating Raiton chakra, but Sando had the mechanics down. I'm counting on you, buddy.

Naruto heard the Inugami chortle. **I understand**, he said. **How long until maximum charge**?

He thought for a moment. _Get it primed and ready for max charge when I give the signal, but not before. Don't want everything to go wild before I'm ready._

**Got it. But you know… this is really, really stupid, even for you**.

_I know_, Naruto grumbled. _But it'll work out all right. Once they all see the signal, I'll have whoever's left on my heels, and they'll all be able to make a break for it. _

**Yeah… about that. You didn't tell them that you'll probably not survive this, right?**

Naruto didn't really have a response to this. **You're really being kinda selfish, Naruto**, Sando went on. **Not even considering the feelings of others. You ought to be ashamed of yourself.**

_Hey! I am thinking of others! If it's about you, I'll just take you off before the big event and send you home! I can teleport with the Hiraishin back to the house and come back here if that's what you want!_

**That's not what I'm saying! **Sando snapped. **I'm talking about your friends! The jinchūriki, your sensei, Sarutobi—hell, even that old pervert! What about Sasuke and Hinata? What would they say to you if they knew what you were thinking?**

Naruto grimaced. _They'd call me an idiot. But I would think they would understand that there's something that is even more important than myself. _

**You self-sacrificing moron! That is not what they would think!**

_And how would you know?_

**Because I know what it's like to lose someone you love! It hurts more than anything you can imagine! Imagine spending the rest of your life knowing that there was another way, that things could have gone differently! Do you really think that everyone is just going to go on with their lives? No! A hundred thousand time, NO! You are dooming them to a life of asking themselves if they could have saved you. All you are doing is giving them another funeral to attend. **

Naruto was silent as he ran through the trees. Sando wasn't wrong, not in the least. But he was. Then this had better go as planned. "I'm ready to do this," he said aloud. "I'm ready to die. But let's hope I don't."

"Me either," Fū said casually beside him.

Naruto nodded absent-mindedly. "Yeah, I know—" He tripped over his feet as his surprise manifested in a late-reaction sputter. He hit the ground with his knees; he was going too fast to stop, and slid forward, out of control, until his right shoulder slammed into a tree and bounced him to the left. He hit again on his side and slid some more until his back cracked against an old pine tree hard enough to make his vertebra pop in protest. Snow flew into the air at impact, and yet more fell down through the tree's branches and fell on and around him in wet, heavy plops.

"Naruto!" Fū screamed as she slid to a halt a good distance beyond him and scrambled back to his buried body. She had just gotten to him when the snow shifted and he sat abruptly upright. His face and hair were both covered in snow, and his expression, though reddened with the chill, was incredulous.

"I thought," he slowly said as he stood, snow sloughing off of him, "that I told you and the others to stay with everyone else. Mind explaining to me what the hell you're doing here?"

Fū crossed her arms and scowled at him. "Yeah, about that," she said. "Turns out—and this might blow your mind—you don't actually have the authority to order me around." Her scowl twisted into a smirk. "Also, I'm not really great at following orders, it turns out. Who knew?"

Naruto brushed vigorously at his hair, removing clumps of snow and ice from it. "This is no time for jokes!" he shouted. "I told you to make sure you got to safety! You have a responsibility—"

"They're some of the strongest men in all the world, they're fine by themselves! Don't you have any faith in them?" Fū shot back. "For crying out loud, the Kage didn't get their jobs by collecting bottle caps! And you know as well as I that a lot of them are just as strong as they are! So don't you give me that crap about protecting them, Naruto, don't you dare!"

"But what about you?" Naruto asked. "I'm trying to keep you safe! If it's just me, I don't care, but I can't let you get hurt again!"

Fū stared at him blankly for a moment with slitted eyes. "I will give you exactly five seconds to take that back," she said frostily, "before I beat you into unconsciousness and drag your scrawny ass back to the mountain. Five."

Naruto instantly knew just how fucked he was. "Wait, woah. Hold on a minute, Fū," he said.

"Four."

"I didn't mean it like that!"

"Three."

He backed up against the tree and darted his eyes each way. There was no way he would be able to outrun her in this forest, not if she flew. "Be reasonable!" he said. "I'm trying to apologize!"

"Two."

"You wouldn't," he stammered.

"One." Fū blurred, and appeared one foot in front of him with an arm cocked back over her shoulder.

Rōshi caught her wrist before she could knock him through the tree. She turned on him and shouted at the older shinobi. "You stay out of this, old man!"

Rōshi chuckled, but let her go. "I will, if you wish, but I don't think snapping his neck is the best way to handle this."

Fū glared daggers at him. "He heals quickly. He'd be fine."

"Be that as it may," Rōshi said, "we came here to save him, not put him in traction."

Naruto looked at Rōshi in confusion. "You, too? What's going on here?"

"What's what we would like to know." Naruto turned around to see Yugito, Kirābī, Utakata, and Gaara standing together, all with eyes on him. "Did you honestly believe it would be as easy as that to rush in here on a suicide mission?" Rōshi's eyes narrowed, and to Naruto's shock, began to glow with the Yonbi's chakra.

"Suicide mission?" Naruto replied with a small quiver in his tone. "I'm not out to get myself killed! I told you, I would buy you time to get everyone else out of here to safety! What are you doing here?"

Naruto didn't see the older man move. One instant, he was standing several feet away. The next, wooden mulch exploded from the tree behind Naruto as Rōshi planted a fist four inches deep into it, his face barely that far from the boy's. When he spoke, it was just above a whisper, and it chilled Naruto to the bone. "I'll forgive you, this time, for lying to us. You never had any intention of going back to your Hokage. That's all right; I know what it's like to want to be the hero. I know how it is to have something you want to protect at any cost. But never again." Rōshi leaned back and withdrew his unblemished knuckles from the tree trunk. "But if you ever use that tone with me again, kid, we'll have words. You do not know better than any one of us. The Kage are what they are because they can take care of themselves. That goes for the rest of them, too."

He glanced over his shoulder at a still-smoldering Fū. "This young lady was worried about you," he continued. "She was the one who dragged us along with her to keep you alive. She was the one who wanted to keep you safe!" He shook his head. "Tell me, kid—what was your big idea, exactly, to hold off all those soldiers?" The man's brow narrowed. "Did you even have a plan?"

"Of course I had a plan!" Naruto shouted back. "Do you think I'm an idiot?"

"That remains to be seen," Yugito said. "Regale us. What was your plan?"

Naruto looked from her to Rōshi and back again for a moment. "Um. Just how strict with the definition of the world 'plan' are we?"

Rōshi's eyes actually began to blaze brighter. "You IDIOT!" he shouted as he took a step toward Naruto. "You had no idea whatsoever what you were doing! You were just going to rush in there, stir up trouble, and lead them on a chase! Tell me I'm lying!"

"It wasn't that simple!" Naruto protested. "I was going to get as many to follow me into the mountains as I could, get them chasing after me. I wanted to lead them out somewhere I could box them in on the side of a mountain and set off an avalanche, with me at the top. It could have worked!"

Rōshi crossed one arm under his chest and rubbed at his eyes with the opposite hand. He groaned in annoyance. When he looked again at Naruto, the chakra had dimmed to pinpricks. "Yes, it could have worked," he said. "But it would be more likely that one of them would get a lucky shot and take you down. No matter how strong you are, no one man can fight an army indefinitely. Nobody is that good. Trust me, I know."

"It would have worked," Naruto insisted. "I would have taken at least half of them out with that alone. I knew what I was doing! Why don't you trust me?"

Yugito rubbed at her eyes. "It's not that we don't trust you, kid," she said. "We just don't want you to needlessly sacrifice yourself. If you go out there, chances are that you won't come back alive."

"It doesn't matter how strong you are," Utakata added. "Kage, jinchūriki, possessor of a Kekkei Genkai; in the end, we are all human, and we all make mistakes—often fatal ones. Pride is the most dangerous sin for any shinobi."

"Let's say your plan worked," Rōshi said. "Let's say your jutsu had worked out, and you had taken a significant portion of them out. What do you think your chances of surviving the day were?"

Naruto thought hard for a moment. He narrowed his eyes and considered the probabilities. "Not great," he admitted. "Not if I stayed around and fought as long as possible. If I went all out, not holding anything back, I probably could have gone on for about three hours, assuming they threw everything that they had against me."

"A few hours," whispered Fū. "That's all."

Naruto couldn't stand to look at her. He turned away and walked forward a few steps before replying. "Something like that," he said.

"And… and you're just all right with the idea of dying?"

Naruto shrugged. "It's my life," he said. "I'll do with it what I want."

Fū was a lot faster than Naruto could ever hope to be. With a roar, she sprang at him and grabbed his by his shoulders. She twisted him around, grabbed him by his jacket lapels, lifted him effortlessly into the air, and slammed him into the tree Rōshi had punched. Naruto's eyes went wide as the breath was knocked from his lungs. "NOW YOU LISTEN TO ME, YOU LITTLE SHIT!" she shouted at him. "JUST LISTEN TO YOURSELF! You think this is some kind of game? Do you?" She shook him roughly against the bark. "Do you think that all we have to do is sit by while you go and get yourself killed? Do you think I'll let you do that?"

Naruto tried to grab her wrists and pry them away, but she was stronger than him by far. She pressed him against the tree with increased force and pushed him up, chips of bark and wood flying away. "Stop—"

"No, you stop! I'm not done with you!" She stared into his avoiding eyes. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!" she snapped. "I said look at me!"

Naruto did, and felt a chill in his soul. Fū's gaze paralyzed him—quite literally. He suddenly found himself unable to make a conscious movement. He couldn't as much as twitch. "Now, you listen to me," she said, in a calmer tone that no less indicated a promise of violence. "You say that it's your life. You say that if you want to die in a meaningless, pointless last stand, it's your decision.

"Fuck that. You say that it's your life?" She inhaled deeply. "Well. I! SAY! YOU'RE! WRONG! You honestly believe that your life is yours? No! No, no, a hundred times, no! It's my life! It's Hinata's life! It's Sasuke's, Sarutobi's, Kakashi's, and Haku's! Your life belongs to everyone you ever fought for! It belongs to everyone who ever believed in you! It belongs to everyone who loves you! Your life belongs to every man, woman, and child who depend on you! If you die here, today, you won't have saved a single damned person! It will be wasted senselessly, thrown away like trash! You don't get to decide when you die! Not until I'm dead! Not until all who love you are gone! Not until there's nobody left to mourn your passing, not until there is nobody left to bury you! On that day, when there is nothing left to lose, when you are all alone, when it's you against the world—then, and only then will your life be your own, because there will be nobody left to claim it! But until then, you will fight. You will survive. And by all the gods, by everything I know, by everyone you love, YOU WILL NOT DIE HERE!"

Fū let him drop to the ground and let his eyes slip from hers, but held onto his jacket. "You don't…" She pulled him in close and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "You don't just go and die, not when people who love you need you, Naruto." A sob escaped her. The young girl buried her face into his hair. She felt hot, wet tears stain him, but she didn't care enough to notice. She did notice, however, when he wrapped his arms around her torso and pulled her closer into him.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," he said to her. "I… I didn't realize… I'm such a fool."

"You are a fool," she agreed. She brushed some snow off of his hair. "Don't you ever do that again, Naruto," she said. "Never, ever. Do you understand?"

"I gotcha," he murmured.

She sniffed, then pulled back. "Good," she said. "You know that if you do that again, I'll have to kill you, right?"

Naruto smiled. "I'll try to remember that," he said.

They had only been smiling for a few seconds when Yugito coughed. "Ahem. Is there any chance we can come up with an actual plan, or should we just leave the two of you alone so you can fuck?"

Naruto and Fū responded together. "Hey, I have a boyfriend already!"

"Hey, I have a girlfriend already!"

Yugito stared at them nonplussed, then glanced over at Rōshi. "Are you sure that they're not long-lost siblings?" she asked him.

Rōshi frowned. "Fairly sure…" he said. "They might be soul mates, though."

"Can we get back to the war, by any chance?" Gaara asked in his trademarked monotone. "People to fight… people wanting to kill us… Does anyone have their priorities straight?"

Utakata nodded. "Thank you," he said. "Now that we're confident that Uzumaki won't be getting himself killed, is it possible that we can come up with something resembling a plan of action?"

"He's right," Yugito said. "Until we have a set plan, we're directionless."

Rōshi grunted his agreement. "First things first," he said. "We need to know our enemy's position and activity." He looked over at Fū. "Fly up and to the north, and keep in cloud cover as much as possible until you see the Akatsuki's camp. Switch your transceiver to channel 96 on a scramble frequency. Report in when you've made visual."

Fu nodded, and without another word, spread her wings and shot into the air. The sharp whine of her wings faded as she flew straight up into the clouds.

* * *

When allies gather in the face of war, there are bound to be stirrings of old rivalries and vendettas, no matter who is in control, or what rules are set forth. A camp full of several thousand mercenaries, both those unaffiliated with any one village, and those who have abandoned their former homes, can easily be a brewing ground for sideways glances and hidden daggers.

They had all begun to trickle in soon after the formal military forces of Otogakure and Amegakure had been slaughtered by some unknown technique well above the level of any known jutsu. In one instant, just after the first thrust had been sent to attack the mountain that served as the stronghold of the samurai, just under three thousand Oto and Ame-nin were crushed to unrecognizable piles of pulp. Naturally, once word of that event had gone out, there was no real urgency for any of the mercenaries to get into the fray. After all, no matter how much they were paid, they couldn't spend any money if they were just crushed like the others had been. Not a one of the mercenaries would get into a confrontation if there was even a chance that that technique was still in play.

Inactivity leads to impatience, which can lead to irritation, which can quickly turn into irrationality. Already, by the late afternoon of the day after the first attack, the entirety of those killed before had been replaced by hired swords, and then some. The difference between the dead Oto and Ame soldiers and the mercenaries, though, would be obvious: while village-bound shinobi were well-versed in following orders and protocol, any large grouping of independent forces is always a hotbed of chaos.

But within that chaos, deep in near the center of where the rabble had more or less annexed the tents of those now dead, was a group of shinobi. They were sitting around a campfire, most of whom with their hands toward it to catch any stray warmth. They all wore black: boots, pants, and jackets were flat black, without adornment of any sort. Their faces were all covered beneath the bridge of their noses, and a hood obscured everything but their eyes. Their bulky clothes made their bodies seem nearly identical, but of those seven, three were women, and four were men.

Only one of them was in any way outwardly different. He was knelt a bit behind and between two of the others closest to the fire. Though he seemed of average height, the back of his jacket protruded about six inches at his shoulder blades. An odd, low hissing sound could be heard at regular intervals, roughly every two seconds or so, with a high-pitched mechanical whine just before.

A few had swords attached to their backs or hips, and all had the standard kunai and shuriken pouches, but besides those, there wasn't anything to distinguish one from the other. Besides their obvious desire to keep their identities concealed… they were unremarkable.

No more than a couple feet separated the four closest to the fire, and the other three were just behind them. Their packs made a loose ring around them, creating a buffer of sorts to ward other mercenaries off.

"Why are we still here?" one of the three outsiders said. She was a woman with a mature-sounding voice, not old, but well beyond her youth. "We've completed the mission objective already."

The man in front of her and to her left rubbed his hands together and inched them closer to warmth. "You know why," he murmured, just loud enough for her and the others to hear. "Our contact says that the Uzumaki boy was killed after last night's final attack from extreme chakra drain, and the Mizukage was put into a coma by the Miki. We're to acquire Uzumaki's corpse if possible." He huffed into his hands for every scrap of warmth he could. "We do not want it falling into the wrong hands."

"Waste of time," she said. "The Hokage—"

"—Won't be able to haul him around safely," one of the others interrupted, "and still be able to fight. He wouldn't put him in a storage seal, that's sacrilegious. Our orders are clear: find the kid, then get the hell out of there."

"We'd be better off aiding them in retreat," she replied. "The kid's dead, nothing we can do about it."

The man with the protruding back glanced sharply at her and narrowed his eyes. When he spoke, there was a mechanic reverberation, as if his vocal cords had been replaced. "We cannot afford to be compromised," he rebuked. "And the boy deserves better. If the Kyuubi is not removed from his body soon, the disaster that would befall us all are clear. We cannot let him fall into enemy hands. We will safely extract him from the fortress without being found out. Is that clear?"

The woman observed him for a second, then nodded. "Apologies. I meant no disrespect. I had forgotten myself."

"It is all right," he said.

"No… it isn't," she said. "I still can't believe you were put into this position in the first place. What were the odds?"

"Enough." That one spoken word was sufficient to silence her. To the others, he said, "We will wait until everyone else is mobile in two hours time, when they storm the fortress. We will hang back until the mercenaries and other shinobi encounter the samurai as the others retreat. We will recover Uzumaki Naruto, then flee to the east. I don't have to tell you, but I will." He paused, as if gathering his thoughts. "Getting his corpse to safety is more important than our lives. We will not fail. We cannot afford to."

"Affirmative," the group said as one. They had trained together for quite some time, save for him. He was new to the squad, though he had been assigned team leader for this mission. He was one of the extremely few shinobi who qualified for the post, and at times, he wished that he had been left to die. But this new lease on life, though unasked for, was embraced. Now, he could once again protect his home, his people, albeit from the shadows. He would never get the recognition others might crave, and never get the honor of thanks from those he had left behind. He didn't need it… He had already resigned himself to his fate.

Some time later, when the sky had begun to grow dark and the activity around them more sluggish, one of the other women jerked from her kneeling position. "Captain!" She hissed.

The man with the distorted voice looked up at her. "What is it?"

"News from the contact!" she said. A spark of hope danced in what her expression revealed.

The man's own eyes went wide. He had already thought that his contact was finished making his report. "And?"

"The Uzumaki boy! Naruto! He's alive!"

The man felt his knees begin to buckle beneath him. "What!" he said too loudly. Shinobi around them turned their heads to see the strange group collectively shift their weight. The seven had been in the same positions for hours by now, unperturbed by the cold or motion around them. "How!"

"Keep your voice down, newbie!" one of the men said.

He calmed himself, placed his hand on the snow to steady himself, and took a deep breath. "Right, sorry. Everyone, mics on, preset channel. We're moving out, and brief us on the way."

As one, they stood and stretched, as if waking up from a deep sleep. Aloud, and audible from a distance, though not obviously play-acting, the third woman said, "Kyoshiro, go and find some more firewood. Takagi, you go with him. Yomiko, Ryugamine, and Ro, you find some food, I'm hungry. Nezumi—" She looked at the man with the mechanical voice, "—you and I are going to go find someone in charge who knows anything about what's going on. I want to know exactly when we move out."

They nodded, grabbed their gear, and set about their pseudo-tasks. When they had all gone their separate ways, "Nezumi" reached inside his hood and pressed the button on his radio's transceiver. "Ro, give me the news," he said. "Everyone, pay attention, too."

The woman called Ro spoke in a hushed, excited tone. "My contact tells me that Uzumaki Naruto is alive and well," she said.

Nezumi frowned, then said "But he said that he had died. What happened?"

"That's just it! He did die! But somehow, he was resurrected. Nezumi, my contact says that he saw it with his own eyes. The kid's body was made… listen, he says he's ok."

Nezumi breathed a sigh of relief. "He's alive," he whispered. "Thank god."

"But there's more," Ro said. "And you're not gonna believe it, either."

Nezumi gulped loud enough to be heard over the signal. "What?"

"According to the contact," she said, "the Kyuubi sacrificed himself to give the other half of the chakra the Yondaime Hokage sealed in the Shinigami back to the kid. He traded his own soul to basically make Uzumaki the most powerful human being in the freaking world."

"He WHAT?" Nezumi actually shouted those words, his altered voice ringing around even the busy camp. Shinobi all around stopped what they were doing to see the cause of the screechy noise. Nezumi looked back at them in kind, then snarled, "What are you looking—Hey!"

The woman with him clamped a hand over his mouth. "Sorry," she said. "He's just a little on edge." She dragged him away from there at a clipped pace. "What happened to keeping a low profile?" she hissed at him. "Damn it, Ir—"

"No real names over the channel," the man called Kyoshiro snapped. "This is a secure channel, but no real names!"

The woman, her hand still clamped over Nezumi's face, pulled him away. "Sorry," she said to Kyoshiro. "It won't happen again."

Nezumi pulled her hand away from him and edged away from her. "The Kyuubi is dead?" he asked Ro as softly as possible. "How is that possible?"

"All I know is what my contact told me," Ro answered. "But it's going to get worse before it gets better."

Nezumi shut his eyes tightly. "Do I want to hear this?" he asked.

"Probably," Ro said. "He's on his way here, right now. And he's bringing the rest of the jinchūriki with him."

"What?"

"They're on their way, and from what I'm told, they plan to ambush the entire camp." She paused for a moment, then said, "If I had to guess, and if it was me, I'd have the guy from Kumo, the guy with the Hachibi, just blast the place to ruin. He's the only one remaining with full control over his bijuu… Oh. Oh."

"Ro?" Nezumi said.

"Yeah, boss?"

"We're in the camp."

"… Right."

"Ro?"

"Yeah?"

"I hate you."

"Sorry, boss."

Nezumi scrunched his eyes. He and his team had to play this right. "Okay, listen up, everyone," he said. "Here's what we're going to do. Kyo and Takagi, you rendezvous with Ro and the others. You head directly west, then swing south. Do not stop for anything, don't draw any attention to yourself. Move fast, but do not draw attention to yourself. Once a fair distance from the camp, pour the lead out and try to intercept with the Hokage, or anyone else that was at the mountain. Ro, set up a safe word so that they know who to trust. Rika and I are going to go east, and meet rendezvous later on. Try to stay out of the action, but if it comes to it, join the Hokage and defend him."

"But what about Naruto?" Kyoshiro asked. "Isn't protecting him a priority, too?"

Nezumi smiled beneath his mask. "I've been keeping tabs on his growth," he said. "There isn't anything that I can do to protect him that he can't do himself. Everyone, worry about yourself, and reinforcing the Kage if a battle comes. If anyone has anything to say, do so now. Otherwise, we're going into radio silence." Nobody contested his decision. He smiled to himself, then said, "Do what you have to. I expect to see you all within the day."

He pushed the button on his headset. It crackled with static, then died away. He looked at his partner, Rika. "Let's get a move on."

She walked beside him, the two of them slowly making their way to the edge of the camp. "You know," she said after a few minutes, "I feel as protective of him as you do."

"I… know." A sudden gust of wind blew up a billow of snow from the ground, accompanying the already-falling snow to resettle over the camp. "He's going to be fine. Trust in him."

"I will," she said.

Nezumi looked over the camp, to the south. A glimmer of worry and concern crept to his eyes. "Just because I trust him," he said, "doesn't mean that I'll stop worrying."

Riku smiled under her mask. "That's the way it should be," she said. "That's the way it always should be."

* * *

Fū buzzed down from the clouds, falling like a stone to land in the center of the six jinchūriki. Rōshi was leaning against a tree, eating a rations bar. A few feet to his side, Naruto sat in the snow, his legs crossed, his hands folded in his lap. Around him were several dozen clones, doing the same, while many more sat in nearby tree branches. Kirābī and Yugito leaned against a clone-free tree about thirty feet away, while Utakata and Gaara stood on opposite sides of each other. Nobody had spoken much in the half hour since she had left, not even to question why Naruto had created so many clones.

"Guys!" Fū shouted. "You're not going to believe this!"

As one, they approached her. The look of excitement on her face spoke volumes. "What's the situation?" Rōshi asked her.

"The enemy forces are still massed at their camp, as we speak! I did a fly-around just to be sure that there weren't any trying to sneak around while the rest of them were a red herring, but no! Every single one of them is, as of now, amassed inside of one square mile, just a few miles north of here! We're within spitting distance of five thousand sitting ducks!"

"And they don't suspect that we are coming for them?" Yugito asked Fū.

The girl shook her head. "I saw no signs of mobilization. It seems that after Naruto's display yesterday, they're playing it safe and waiting for further reinforcements. I saw a couple dozen going into the camp, but none going out." Fū raised an open hand and clenched it tight. "This is our chance. If we strike them now, we can finish this!"

"What do you suggest?" Utakata asked.

"What do you think?" Fū said. She looked straight at Kirābī. "Let's end this in one move."

Yugito's eyes shot wide. "You can't mean…"

"Bijudama," said Gaara.

"Wipe them out…" Rōshi whispered.

"All of them?" asked Naruto. "You want to vaporize… what, five thousand people?"

Fū looked at Naruto. "It's the only way to ensure that they aren't a continued threat," she said. "If we let them go, or if we fight them on an even level, we're almost certainly all dead." She looked around at the six of them. "I know it makes me sound like a monster, but if it's between them and us, I choose us."

Naruto held her gaze. "You say that as if it's an easy decision to make," he said. "Is it that easy for you to contemplate genocide?"

Fū's eyes narrowed. "This is different, and you know it," she said. "I'm talking about the greater good here! If they mobilize and catch up to the others, who knows whether all of the Kage and everyone else can survive? You told us before that there are shinobi with them that are at their level, and they completely outnumber our people! I'm willing to do the dirty work if more lives are saved than not!"

He shook his head. "It's easy to say that," he said, "but I wonder what the families back home of all those shinobi and mercenaries would think if their loved ones were vaporized." Naruto cocked his head. "Do you think you could look them in the eye after that, if they came for you?"

"You little—!"

"Enough!" Rōshi snapped as he stepped in between the two. "We're wasting precious time before they find out the rest have moved on from the mountain! We need to make a plan, now, not argue."

Naruto stepped backwards and snorted. "What do you think I've been doing?" he asked, jerking his head up to indicate the clones in the trees above. "I've had them working in teams to come up with a way to neutralize the foe without killing them all."

Utakata grunted. "Neutralize? What do you mean?"

Naruto nodded at him. "I mean, if there's a way to stall them all and make sure that us, the Kage and those with them, everyone still at the mountain, and all of those mercenaries and shinobi out there can get out of this mess with as few dying as possible, I'm going to do it."

"You can't be serious!" Yugito said. "That's impossible! A confrontation is inevitable, people are bound to die!"

"But that doesn't mean I have the right to annihilate them!" he snapped. "What, just because we have all of this power, we know better? There's more raw potential inside of each of us, but does that make our decisions right?"

"Right and wrong have nothing to do with this!" Rōshi said.

"Right and wrong has everything to do with this!" Naruto retorted. "Nobody else dies today if I can help it!"

"That isn't your decision to make, Uzumaki!" Rōshi snapped.

"Then whose? Who decides who lives and who dies?" He pointed a finger at Rōshi's chest. "Who gave you the right to play God?"

"It'S not about 'playing God!'" Rōshi said. "It's about survival! It's about you and me and everyone else we know and love being alive tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that!" Rōshi spread his arms around him. "Look around you, boy. Just look. It's just us out here. There's _nobody _else. We have to depend on each other to stay alive. We have no backup, no plan, and everything to lose! People are depending on _us _to make the hard choices. That's what we _do._ We're jinchūriki. When it comes to the tough decisions, we have no choice in the matter." His eyes narrowed. "We exist to protect our homes and families. And if that means taking them out, then so be it."

Naruto looked him in the eyes for a moment, silently studying the older man. "And what about their families?" he asked, softly. "What about their homes? What about their survival? Would you be willing to go to any one of their homes and tell them that their father isn't coming back because you took the easy way out?"

"Naruto…" He looked over at Yugito. "You're getting emotional. You need to stop and calm down."

He laughed abruptly. "See, _that's _what's wrong with us shinobi. We're trained from day one to keep our emotions bottled up and hidden away, so that they can't be used against us." He shook his head. "Screw that. I'll die before I become a machine." He turned away from Rōshi and began walking. "If mercy is enough to get me killed, I'll die a fucking saint before I sink to your level."

Rōshi's eyes took on a crimson hue. "You… you _little…_"

Naruto stopped, closed his eyes, and breathed softly. "What is it, Yonbi?" He raised his arms above his head, clasped his hands together… and _stretched. _"Is there something you'd like to say?" He turned back around and opened his eyes. His irises were solid red, just as Rōshi's were, but shone even more brightly. "I'm telling you, here and now, I'm going to find a way to keep casualties to a minimum. I will find a way to lessen the bloodshed as much as I possibly can. And… from an orphan to a father…" He raised a finger and pointed it at Rōshi. "…Children _will _see their parents after this is over."

Steam began rising from Rōshi's hair as he, literally and figuratively, smouldered. "Noble words," he said, "but do you have any way of backing them up _without _getting us killed?"

Naruto closed his eyes and smiled. When he opened them again, they were the same, brilliant blue hue they normally were. "Let's find out." He glanced up into the trees. "All squads, disperse!" As one, every one of his clones vanished into plumes of white smoke and with faint pops.

"What did that accomplish?" Utakata asked.

Naruto rubbed at his temples; no matter how he trained, he could still never quite get used to that many clones disappearing at once. If it was only for a few moments, then even a thousand of them didn't have that much of an effect on him. But several dozen over the course of an hour or so, each deep in thought, could have a significant psychic backlash. "I had arranged them into groups to figure out our next move," he explained. "Each group would think of a different strategy, and run through possible scenerios." He put up a hand to ward off further questions. "Give me a moment to sort things out, please. My thoughts get… jumbled…"

Without warning, he fell flat backwards into the snow. "Naruto!" Fū said as she rushed to his side. "Naruto, are you ok?"

Naruto smiled up at her worried face. "Yeah… I was just caught off-guard at how genius I can be sometimes."

"Er… What?" Fū asked as she kneeled down beside him. "Naruto, what are you talking about?"

He sat up and grinned fiercely. "I'm a genius," he repeated. "I know how to save us, keep most of those goons alive, and make sure we all get home in one piece.

"And how is that supposed to go?" Gaara asked.

Naruto looked up and over at him. "You're not going to like it," he said.

Fū looked at him and frowned. She of all people knew how devious Naruto could be. He was, in some ways, frighteningly intelligent and as cunning as the Kyuubi himself. If he had an idea, it would be a good one. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Naruto stood up and brushed the snow off of him. "Oh, _you _aren't gonna like it, either."

"Quit playing around!" Yugito said, "Just tell us already!"

Naruto glanced at her and looked her up and down. "Oh, you _really _aren't gonna like it."

"_Naruto…_" Fū growled. "Out with it!"

He put up his hands in surrender. "Fine, fine. But first, there's something I have to explain." He looked around at each of them in turn. "Each of us have jutsu that are unique to us. We're powerful, and we're skilled. Being jinchūriki come with certain… perks. Gaara, you have your sand. Rōshi, from what I've been told, can turn his entire body into _lava. _But except for the basic stuff, I really haven't developed any jutsu keyed to the Kyuubi." He crossed his arms and smiled once again. "But there is one thing that I excel at, and I don't think that anyone else can pull off at _nearly _my level. More than perhaps anyone else, I can draw an _insane _amount of chakra in one go, more so than anyone I've ever heard of. I tend to specialize in high-impact, high-power jutsu that don't need a lot of fine control, like the Kage Bunshin." He tapped his temple with his right hand. "And I can make a _lot _of Kage Bunshin."

"How many?" Gaara asked.

"We're about to find out," Naruto said. "But not yet." He dug around in his pouch and pulled out his only remaining blank scroll—the only one that had survived the previous night. "I'm going to create a scroll seal to activate the jutsu at a timed release. The more chakra I put into it, the more clones will be created." He tossed it to Fū. "But I'll need a sample of your chakras, as well. Your personal chakra, and a small sample of your Bijuu. I can create the clones and make them look like you, but if there are any sensors worth a damn out there, they'd easily be able to tell the difference."

Utakata grunted. "I see… you plan on making several hundred clones, some of each of us, with copied chakra signatures. You then plan on sending them off in every direction, banking on the mercenaries to divide their attention amongst them?"

"Close enough," Naruto said. "But not several hundred. More along the lines of… probably a thousand, each."

Utakata's eyes shot wide. "You can make that many clones?" he asked.

"Easily. I'm inefficient, but raw muscle is not lacking."

Rōshi put a hand to his bearded chin. "It… has potential." He glanced over at the ladies. "But why did you say that they wouldn't like it?"

A faint blush crept to Naruto's cheeks. "Er… Well… Funny thing about that. This is supposed to be a distraction… so what do you think is the most distracting thing possible?"

"I don't… wait a minute," Rōshi said. "You couldn't… you wouldn't _possibly _dare…"

"If it's distracting, it should work!" Naruto protested. "It's for the greater good!"

"What is he talking about, Rōshi?" Yugito asked.

"You don't want to know," he muttered.

"What are you going on about, Naruto?" Fū said.

Naruto turned to her and smiled, and said what was possibly the bravest, inane, and life-risking sentences ever spoken by man. "Kazeto Fū… what is your personal opinion on bikini thongs?"

* * *

A/N: I await your angry messages.

Bake some cookies.

~dead witch


	42. Filler: Love in the Iron Fortress

RISING STAR IS OFFICIALLY BACK IN PRODUCTION.

I've been busy with some new work, but I can assure you, Rising Star will be back to work in the very near future. I haven't finished the next full chapter yet, but this is a lemon that I've been working on off and on for a while. It's filler that takes place between chapters 32 and 33, in case you couldn't tell. Haku/Fū is officially one of my new favorite pairings.

I'll answer questions and reviews next time. Till then, stay classy, my dear readers.

* * *

**Chapter 42**

She lead him to the door. Everyone who was important already knew about their relationship, in one form or another. They were not breaking any rules with their open affection; true, it was somewhat unorthodox, but not unprecedented. They were political allies by proxy, after all. Some of the locals gave them sideways glances as they walked through the halls and ate together after the conference, but the food was passable at best, so they didn't make a show of lingering in the public eye.

Their accommodations had been predetermined when they had arrived, but upon silent agreement, they knew where the two of them were staying the night. Neither would have a cold bed awaiting them before sleep, or after wake. They both knew that these moments, hours, if they were lucky, would be few and far between, and their desire to make them last was monumental. They had gone through the motions after the meeting… But more than anything, Fū wanted Haku alone and to herself. She wanted to sully the young man with her sweat and body more than she knew was possible. She knew she was his first—not his last, probably, but if she wasn't, she wanted to be the measuring stick that all other women he would ever know, in any sense of the word, that they were compared to.

They slipped into her room just as the sun began to set and they had said goodbye to their retinue. She was still holding his hand when she turned to him and pressed close, and lifted her face, and he kissed her lips. She held on as he wrapped his arms round her, twisting her own arm in behind her back.

It was a surprisingly arousing pose. She was suddenly vulnerable, bent backwards a little, on the edge of balance, his grip holding her to his body, her neck exposed to his lips and teeth. She sighed, a slightly husky note in her throat as he kissed it.

He brought his head up again to look at her face, and saw the fire in her gaze. In a breathless rush she said, "I don't care if this is just the second time we're together or whatever. But tonight, you're mine, and I'm yours, and the rest of the world doesn't exist. Nothing outside of this room matters. Just help his forget everything… help his forget the world, the wars, the fighting. Just… love me. Just make love to me."

His kiss was his reply. Hers in return was fierce and hard.

He pulled her back into the bedroom as she dug her fingers into his shoulder and kept the grip on his hand behind her back. She gasped, and he thought he had hurt her but she let out a satisfied whimper. "I am not so tender," she whispered huskily. "I am not fragile. Don't be gentle, don't be soft, don't think I'll break." She eyed him as she grabbed him by the hem of his trousers and ground her pelvis into his. "Try to break me. I want you to split this in half." She grabbed him by the head and pulled him down for a savage kiss, almost violent in nature. There was more lust in that kiss than anything else. "I'm like nothing you've ever seen before," she said as she pulled away, leaving him gasping for air. "I'm a beast, and I'll outlast you every day of the week. But I've never been pushed to the breaking point like you did last time… never before in my life have I ever felt so alive as when you spent those hours inside of me. You made his see stars… I think you might have made his see _God _for a while there. You made his feel things I'd never felt before, things I'm still trying to sort through." She nibbled on his lower lip while she aligned her torso to his, feeling his length stiffen in his pants.

"I'm going to go freshen up," she said. "Strip, and get on the bed. I'll be with you in just a few minutes. Before the night is over, I'll have you begging for the sweetest mercy." She gave him a lingering kiss as she slipped around him to go to the room's small bathroom.

He did as he was told. What else could he have done?

He sat up in the bed, the covers over his lower half, his heart fluttering. It was only few seconds more before she appeared, naked, and stood in the archway between the bathroom and the wardrobe. She had taken a classic pose, the swimsuit parade stance of beauty contests, one knee bent, a hand on her hip.

He was speechless. He couldn't even whistle. Then she smiled, and he closed his mouth and smiled back.

She turned around, one hand on her head, a slow spin, three hundred and sixty degrees of perfection.

She gave him the appraising look again when she had come back to face me. "Are you okay?"

"Ah." he croaked.

She smiled again, and said "I think you a drink."

She walked past the end of the bed with fluid grace, grabbed a sake bottle off of the table beside him, and poured two shallow cups. She walked towards him, and placed the sake bottle on the bedside table, saying "For later," and bent forward to give him the cup.

He managed to say "Thank you" and she whirled round and went to fetch the other cup, walking round to the other side of the bed and sipping it.

Her hair was beautiful in the light of the bedside light. The triangle of curls at the top of her smooth white thighs was only a little darker than her head's hair. Her breasts were full and heavy, nipples large and slightly raised, dark against the tanned and toned flesh. Her bottom was just the same, evenly colored all over. She got to the far side of the bed, stood facing him, and drained her cup. The light behind her shone through the gap between her thighs, silhouetting her pussy lips and making her pubic hair a halo.

She put the cup down and took the top edge of the covers in her hand as she leaned forwards. His eyes were drawn by hers despite the view of her breasts as they swung forward.

Her kiss was warm and rich. She threw the covers back as she moved further onto the bed, and swarmed into his arms, against his body, around his legs. Naked skin in contact from head to toe.

They kissed and caressed, hands gently exploring, smoothing, running though long hair, over curves, skirting the edges of the erogenous, then heading for the centers.

She almost purred when he stroked the small of her back. he gasped when she sucked hard on his left nipple.

Her fingers went into his mouth. She slid down and his cock went into hers.

He lay rigid as she sucked on him, stroking his shaft, green locks around her face as she closed her eyes and he felt her tongue move around his tip.

He held her hair back so he could see her, and she looked up at him with her strange, orange eyes, knowing what he was doing. She lifted her mouth off him, leaving her tongue touching the sensitive bridge of skin beneath his knob, then swallowed him again slowly, giving a good view of her lascivious pleasure.

She licked down his shaft and over his balls, kissing each in turn, then back up the shaft for another suck, bobbed her head a couple of times, and pulled up, grinning at the noise she made as she sucked hard and popped her lips off of them. She kept that bright smile as she moved up his body, straddling him, kissing him, her tongue on his as her hand reached his cock and held it upright.

She was incredibly hot inside. His shaft was enveloped in her slick, firm embrace as she slid down onto him, and moaned gently.

She lay on him full length, her heels hooked behind his, her breasts crushed against his, her thighs tightening her clasp on his cock. She kissed him languorously, and flexed her body to slowly move up and down on his shaft, her breath catching as she pressed her clit against the base of his cock.

He let his hands roam again, delighting in her skin, her hair, the play of the muscles as she moved. He ran them down to her ass, taking a grip with each hand to pull her wide and press her down, exposing her and possessing her. She squirmed and sighed. He let her set the pace. Her breathing deepened with each stroke, her movements became more fluid, her kisses grew more forceful. She began to take little gasps of air on each cycle of her hips, and then moved her legs to raise her bottom, pumping it up and down. He was able to run a hand between them, get a finger to her clit, feel the sticky softness of her flesh between the hairy lips. His other hand found her breast, squeezing the soft handful, pinching her hard nipple between thumb and the side of his finger.

Her breathing deepened further, he knew she would come soon. He kept rubbing her clit, and she stiffened her back and legs. Her neck went rigid, and she broke the kiss, her nose resting against his, her mouth open, jaw locked, as a strange ululating sound emerged. Her face was flushed, red and white, turning purple. Her eyes took on a look of disbelief, pleading, vulnerability, submission, release.

When she came he felt her muscles spasm, waves of pulsing inside her. She shook, and collapsed, still shaking, and made sounds that seemed almost of fear or loss, but then a throatier noise emerged, and her body began to move again with purpose, and she took a shuddering breath, and pushed herself up into a yoga 'cat' pose, concentrating all her force down into his cock, pressing deeply inside her.

She held the pose and her breath, her magnificent breasts pouting straight out above me, and then looked down.

"Thank you. That was..."

She didn't finish the sentence. She fell on Haku, her mouth ravishing his, and body moving to rub all of her against his, as if possessing it through contact.

It was suddenly wild and passionate. They rolled over and he was on top of her, her legs lifted high and wide, his balls slapping against her ass as he pounded her hard. For several long minutes, he held her in this position. It was almost a contest between them to see who could hold out the longest before submission to the ethereal release.

He slowed down when he knew that she was close to her peak, and the look in her eyes was simultaneously desperate, pleading, and spiteful.

He raised himself on his hands to watch her, to see the green pubic curls part around his wet shaft, see her breasts rock back and forth as their bodies flexed in synchrony, see her hair wild around her head, and her throat exposed to his as she lay with eyes closed and chin up, hands on his waist, pulling his hard onto her, wanting him inside her, wanting him.

He suddenly came then, lunging down onto that beautiful body, clasping her to him, wrapped in her arms and legs, pumping his soul into her, giving her his breath and body.

She kissed him gently when he got his breath back, and rolled him over onto his back. She lay beside him, on her side, as both of them struggled to catch their breath. Never before had she come that hard, with that level of intensity. She raised her right leg and slug it over and across his thighs, the combined fluids of the two seeping out of her pussy and dripping, sticky, down his leg. She ran a hand slowly down his body to touch his cock, and looked at it as it twitched. She smiled as it spasmed up and down, like a small arm… well, not _so _small. Somehow, _amazingly, _he was still mostly hard—he hadn't lost any of his length or girth. She gently cupped his balls and applied a miniscule amount of pressure, squeezing and massaging his testicles tantalizingly slowly for several minutes. Haku's breathing gradually sped up in time with her tempo; involuntarily, his hips began to buck up against her touch.

Fū leaned over and bit his nipple, her hands never leaving his jewels. "Patience, lover," she murmured with his bud between her lips. "We're not there yet." She let go of his balls and, using only her thumb and forefinger, gently encompassed his cock. She was only just able to get her hand around it, and her hands weren't very small. While applying _only _enough pressure for him to feel her, she slid her hand up and down his shaft. Languidly, torturously slowly, she stroked his cock. Every few strokes, she would gently thumb its head, or rub her thumbnail on the underside along its nerve. She knew she was driving Haku, her lover, into a manic frenzy, but that was exactly where she wanted him.

Silently she moved to suck it, cleaning it of his come and her juices, licking his balls clean as well, as she knelt beside him. Her ass was pointed towards his face, and he could see his come leaking from her pussy, running slowly down her leg. He wondered then if she was on any sort of birth control. She said she didn't have a boyfriend, she hadn't had sex for a long time, hadn't been with anybody but him for a few months before they met. There was no reason she should be on birth control. He wondered if he should mention it.

She turned back to face him, and kissed his lips, the faint tang of their come on her face. "I'll be back in a moment," she whispered, and slid off the bed and away to the bathroom.

He lay breathing, and thinking about what had just happened. It was hard to believe. She was beautiful, and sensual, and so in tune with his body and her own. It was like making love for the twentieth time with a devoted partner, and this was only his second time with her—his second time, _period._

She reappeared, and climbed up to him, giving him that devastating smile again. "Miss me?"

He laughed. "Yes." He kissed her "Thank you. For coming back so quickly."

She pulled the covers up over them and snuggled up against him, and they kissed like the teenagers they were.

"How come you don't have a boyfriend?" he asked. "I mean, you are beautiful, sexy, good in bed, pleasant, charming and witty. I was astonished when you told me."

"I had a boyfriend. For about a year. He turned out to have another girlfriend. Broke my heart and trust. All the men I've met since have been... unsuitable."

"I am flattered then. To be found suitable."

She grinned up at him. "You'll do," she said in mock-seriousness. "But the interview isn't quite over yet. I've got a lot of… _positions _to fill, if you know what I mean."

She kissed his and touched his chin, and said gently "But he would like to make love with you again. Now."

"I'll settle for that." he said and kissed her back.

She was passionate and lithe, hands exploring his body again, moving herself to let his have access to hers. He sucked her nipples as he fingered her pussy and she rocked against his hand. he pushed her back and slid down, licking her navel as he made his way to taste her sweet center.

Her green curls were surprisingly soft, and her pussy really was sweet. She spread her legs wide for me, and let his raise them, showing his her depths, and exposing the pink puckered opening of her bottom. he took a risk and licked on down from her pussy, pressing his nose into her, stretching his tongue to lick her ass.

She writhed and sighed. She liked it. He rimmed her. With a thumb on her clitoris he tongued her ass, pressing into it with the tip, lacking round it, flicking up to taste her dripping pussy juice. She came as he fingered her, the tip of his index finger clenched in her sphincter, the thumb of his other hand in the pulsing tunnel of her pussy.

He pulled out his thumb but left the finger inside. He kicked her clit and up and down each side if her labia, spreading her pink lips wide, looking at the finger that he slid deeper into her ass.

She groaned, and raised her hips, pressing herself against the finger, pushing it deeper inside herself. She flexed back and forth as he held still, hardly breathing. He watched in awe as she began to rub her own clit as she used his finger to fuck her own ass.

She came again, and he kissed her pussy gently, slipping his finger free, then moving up to kiss her stomach, her breasts and neck, her lips and face. She kissed his softly, and said shyly "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he said. "But we're not quite done yet."

"Huh?" Her eyes went wide when he rose to his knees, put them on either side of hers, grabbed her by the waist, and flipped her over onto her belly. "Eep!" she squealed in both surprise and thrill. She had a pretty good idea of what was going through his mind. He gripped her by her hips and pulled up sharply, arching her ass up at an angle.

"Beautiful," he muttered as he gazed at her exposed ass. "Glorious." He grabbed her ass with both hands and squeezed just under too firmly. She moaned with the pressure as he changed his grip every few seconds, massaging everything between her knees and the small of her back. Everything he could touch, he did, with varying intensity and firmness.

Her breathing became more shallow and hurried as he leaned back and slid a finger into her slit. In and out he thrust his middle digit, his folded pinkie and ring finger bumping against her clit in a rough, uneven pace. As he sped up, her gasps became more high pitched, until she forced herself to bite her lip and push her face into the pillow to keep from screaming in the ecstatic agony. One after another, she was hit with micro-orgasms that only lasted a second or two, but the way he changed his angle and thrust made each one a unique experience. She felt her body betray her, go limp with shivers and shock, as he pistoned in and out. "Ohfuckohfuckoh FUCK ME!" she finally screamed. "STICK YOUR COCK IN ME, MOTHER FUCKER!"

Without skipping a beat, he withdrew his fingers and immediately replaced them with his cock. In one smooth thrust, he inserted the entirety of his eight and a half inch member into her. Her eyes nearly popped out of her skull as her senses were stimulated almost past the breaking point. He leaned over and put his hands on her shoulders for added support and leverage.

He pulled back, withdrew part of his cock. He slid forward, reinserted it all. Her arms reached up around him. Her nails scratched at his back. Her hips rose and fell with his, fucking herself onto his cock. Together they moved; rocking, humping. Their pace steadily increasing. Soon she felt another orgasm being awoken within her. She lifted up, buried her face into his chest and whimpered. Her body twitched beneath him, announcing the approaching climax. He slid himself into her smoothly a few more times, then suddenly slammed his hips forward. Drove his cock into her.

"Oh God yes," she exclaimed.

He pulled back. Rammed forward. Again and again he did this, each time thrusting into her fiercely.

The orgasm exploded inside her. More fireworks filled her mind. Electricity jolted along her nerves. She moaned into her pillow. Her legs snapped around his waist, locking her to him, melding her crotch to his. The hold was so tight that he could only rock his hips with her, not at her, as her body shuddered through a long series of climatic spasms.

Once it passed, her legs loosened their hold and he began moving at her with a little more vigor again. But after only a few times he stopped completely. Surprised, she looked up at him from under her heavy lids. Grinning he pulled back and out, completely removing himself from her.

"You know I love your ass," he said. "Now roll back over."

A shiver ran through her as the implications of his words sunk in. Filled by nervous excitement she did as told, raising her ass to him on bent knees. He dipped a finger into her sex, rolled it around to get it well coated. His other one hand pulled her cheek aside. Her crack was wet with the juices that had run down from her pussy. He pressed his finger to her sphincter, made small circles with it as he pushed at it. The combination of her juices allowed it to easily penetrate her, slipping smoothly past the tight opening and into her anus. Working the digit around he rolled it in ever widening circles, stretching her open more and more. Soon he added a second finger, working the pair as he had the one.

"I'm going to fuck your beautiful little ass," he groaned.

Her body had quickly adjusted to the anal assault and she pushed back at the fingers, moaning hungrily. He needed no further encouragement. His fingers slid from her. He jammed his cock back into her pussy to move it around and coat it with her wetness. Then he once more pulled out, this time so he could place the tip against her sphincter. Applying pressure he steadily pushed himself into her ass. When he was mostly inside her, he held still for a moment, allowing her to grow accustomed to the shaft filling her rectum. Pulling back, he withdrew part of it. Then he slid his hips forward again. His cock slipped in and out of her ass, pumping past her clenching anus. His hands grabbed onto her hips, holding her as he pushed himself into her, building up a deliberate, rhythmic fucking motion. Her body rocked with him, meeting his every thrust.

"Oh God. Oh God yes." she moaned, pushing her ass back onto his cock.

"Oh yea," he agreed. "You like it. You like my cock in your hot little ass."

The growing rhythm had affected him. He felt his own climax nearing. He picked up momentum until he was no longer simply fucking her ass, but pounding into it. His hands gripped her hips firmer, clamping down tightly.

"I'm going to cum in your ass, in your dirty little ass," he growled.

He rammed himself into her, the force shoving her across the bedspread, pushing her toward the headboard. He thrust himself forward again and again. He did so one last time. He crammed his crotch against her cheeks, and froze. Inside her rectum his cock pulsed, exploded, unleashing his semen.

After a few moments he pushed her away. She fell to the bed, her collapsing body pulling her ass from around his cock. He fell next to her, a satisfied grin on his face.

"I've only done that once before." She glanced down. "You were wild. You were… amazing." She looked up at him and smiled crookedly. "Haku," she said. "You… you know I love you, right?"

Haku nestled next to her. "I know," he murmured into her ear as their bodies curved together in sticky, sweaty bliss.

"I just wanted to tell you that. No matter what happens tomorrow, you have to remember that."

She rolled over onto her other side and allowed Haku to spoon up against her back, his still semi-hard penis nestling in between her seeping ass cheeks.

"I understand," he said, and lazily massaged her breast. She moaned at the contact. She had asked him to push her to her limits, but she had no idea that his sexual stamina was this great!

She reached behind her and spread her ass cheeks. "Wanna go another round?" she asked him coyly.

Haku adjusted his position and slipped his cock in through her sphincter. From the side, there was a new kind of pressure that he hadn't experienced yet. His semen lubricated his short, gentle thrusts into her ass. For several minutes, he took her slowly, languidly, enjoying every moment he could. He had already had his own orgasm more than once by now, so he could afford to take his time.

Finally he came in her ass once again. It wasn't a fountain geyser so much as a slow trickle, but it was enough to warm Fū from the inside-out and give him a level of satisfaction.

They slept the blissful sleep of lovers without worry… if only for one more night.


	43. False Power

A/N: It's about damn time I updated this thing properly. I haven't gotten too many creative juices flowing in the past couple years, but life kicks you in the balls sometimes, and it takes a while to stand up after that.

Nobody really cares about my personal life, so I'm not gonna bother you with the details.

Gonna answer a few reviews, anybody got a problem with that?

**Twilight- The Moon Spirit: A boy's gotta do what a boy's gotta do. Just because he killed all of them doesn't mean it won't tear him up. **

**Chazman89: I'm glad you liked the ending, chapter 41 was one of my favorite chapters to write. Gonna pat myself on the back here—the last line was a stroke of brilliance, huh? **

**Lord Cynic: Yeah, this fight is going to be one of the crowing moments of the knuckleheaded ninja.**

**Dragon Man 180: Yeah, you're probably right, but it is only about 2/7 Mass Sexy Jutsu, and 5/7 "OH MY GOD MY EYES" Jutsu. You'll see. And Hinata… well, that's a few chapters away, at least. But it will be priceless. **

**MP5: I bad. I so bad.**

**Cripple bopp: Thanks for the praise. It really means a lot to me, honestly. I have made an effort to make my fight scenes as cohesive as possible, and if you're any measure to go by, it shows. **

**As for your P.S., yes, I did think about that, but after a LOT of thought, I decided to save that storyline for after this current arc… kinda. I can't say any more without giving out MAJOR spoilers that I've been planning for about two years now, but if I ever get around to the second half of this fic, it'll be the stuff of FF legend.**

**Kyubii's Shinigami: All will be revealed in time, I promise. **

**Internet Kaiser: I'm sorry… I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to make anybody cry. That's just what happens when you get emotionally invested.**

**Skepsis66: I've always wanted to be somebody's hero! Thanks for being a fan!**

**Mawgy08: FINALLY, somebody who understands.**

**Makatosan: I'm just that good at what I do. **

**Zabuzoid: Actually, Zabuza really IS S-ranked. That's his official classification in the data books, and if Kakashi hadn't had a Sharingan, there's no way he could have taken him at the bridge, in canon. He's just that good at his craft. **

**Knight of elves: I do believe that I was original with that idea, yeah. Glad to make you proud. **

**LAzHellRaiser: Don't give a fuck about crass. I know it's good shit. Sorry about your homework, but I assume that's an issue that's LONG over with. **

**mr. cloud: Eh, I think I did okay with that chapter. **

**Dyani91: Because porn. That's why filler.**

And… that's it. Enjoy. Read and review.

* * *

**Chapter 43**

"I am going to kill you, Naruto," Fū said plainly. "I will murder you, and if you somehow come back from the dead once again, I will kill you again. Do I make myself clear?"

Naruto huffed out a visible breath into the air. Without opening his eyes, the hand on her bare back twitched. "Crystal." The muscle beneath the warm skin of her shoulder twitched beneath his grasp. "It's not like I'm getting a thrill out of this or anything," he said. She had taken off her jacket, and he had thrust his arm up under her shirt to place his hand on the seal that held the Nanabi.

"You better not," she muttered. "Just get this over with, will you?"

Naruto nodded. "Almost done. This is more tricky than I thought it would be." His eyes narrowed as he glared at the back of her shirt. "Nanabi-chan is surprisingly stubborn."

She grunted. "Of course," Fū said. "Nanabi likes _absorbing _chakra. He's a lot more picky about when I want any from him."

Naruto sighed and shifted his fingers. "I've figured that out, already," he grumbled. "He's a lot more stubborn than even the Ichibi." He glanced over at Gaara. "He _really _doesn't like me, by the way."

Gaara dipped his head in a short nod. "He hates all of humanity," he said. "If I let my guard down for even a minute… if I go to sleep… He could escape and kill us all."

"Is that to mean that you do not sleep?" Utakata asked the young Suna-nin.

Gaara turned his bright green eyes to Utakata. "Not once since I was a small child." He gently placed a couple fingers on his right temple, at the kanji for "love". "Not since the day I branded myself with the symbol of my mother's love with my sand."

"Hn? You did that to yourself? It must have been painful."

A soft, somewhat sinister laugh escaped from Gaara's lips. "Pain… holds no meaning for me anymore. It was that day that I learned my purpose in life."

Yugito snorted. "And what's that, kid?" she asked.

He looked at her and gave her a slasher smile. "I'm meant to kill everyone who gets in my way," he said. "So stay out of my way."

She simply snorted.

"Enough," barked Rōshi. "Naruto, how much longer until you're finished?"

"I'm just… about… done." He slipped his hand out from Fū's shirt and stepped away from her. "I was just able to get enough of your chakra to make my clones able to copy. I swear, it was like squeezing water from a rock trying to get Nanabi to give any up."

"Like I said, he's selfish," she reminded him. She swung her coat around, donned it, and zipped it up to her neck. She tapped her shoulder with a closed fist and muttered, "Greedy little bastard."

Naruto smiled, then looked at his hand. It was glowing faintly with the Nanabi's chakra. He had managed to keep it localized there, flowing in the few tenketsu located in the hand. It took a lot of concentration to draw it from the depths of their seals and hold onto it, but he had somehow managed. He couldn't contain it for too long, though; if he let himself lose focus even for a moment, the foreign chakra would be absorbed into his own reservoir of power, rendering it completely useless.

Before he forgot himself, he grabbed a scroll from his pocket and clasped it between his hands. Without hesitation, he flashed through the three hand seals for the Kage Bunshin. A ripple of energy emanated from the scroll as the foreign bijuu chakra disappeared from his hand and sank into the scroll. "Done," he said. "That's six Kage Bunshin no Jutsu stored in here; just one more to go." He had, in no specific order, absorbed chakra for each one of the other jinchūriki. The only one left to go was Nii Yugito, host of the Nibi. "You ready?" Naruto asked her.

Yugito nodded curtly. "I've already discussed this with Nibi, there should be no problem withdrawing chakra from her."

He was relieved; to draw chakra from the other bijuu, he had to use up to four or five times that in the extraction process, and that was with the ones that had cooperated. He had to use three times that with the Nanabi. He wasn't anywhere near exhausted, but the chunk of his own chakra was noticeable. "Good," he said. "Let's get this over with. Where's your seal?"

She paused before answering. "Naruto, is this plan impossible without my clones?" she asked. "I have no reservations about this, but I'm asking for your sake. Can this succeed without my help?"

Naruto shook his head. "Not as it stands, no. They may have sensors sensitive enough to differentiate all the signals, and if there is only one of your chakras, they might be able to follow. We can't take that risk."

Yugito frowned, but nodded. "I understand," she said. She looked at B. "B-kun, can you take the men out of sight, please?"

"Huh?" he said. "Why ya want me to do that?"

Yugito rubbed her hand down her face. "Because, B… My seal isn't on my shoulder."

B's eyes shot wide behind his sunglasses. "Oh. Right. I forgot." He turned and started walking away. "Come on, guys. Nobody wants to get on Yugi-chan's bad side today."

"Wait, why are we leaving?" Utakata asked.

Rōshi followed B and gently placed a hand on Utakata's shoulder, guiding the young shinobi with him. "Use your imagination, kid," he said.

Utakata thought about it for a second, then blushed slightly. "I… see…" he said. He glanced back at Yugito, then turned to go with Rōshi. "Gaara, come on."

"Why are we leaving?" Gaara asked.

"I'll explain on the way, son," Rōshi said. "Let's give the two of them some privacy." He looked back over his shoulder at Yugito. "When should we come back?" he asked.

"I'll send Fū to get you," she replied.

"What?" Fū asked, surprised that she wasn't being asked to leave. "You want me to stay?"

Yugito nodded. "Yes," she said. "I need you to make sure that Uzumaki doesn't run."

Naruto blanched. "Run? Why would I run?" He looked from Fū to Yugito and back again. "Why would I run?"

Fū walked to Naruto and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Naruto," she said to him in a serious tone, "I need you to be brave, okay?"

"Brave?" He stepped around her and called out to the retreating men. "Hey! What's going on?"

Rōshi chuckled as they disappeared into the trees. "You're one lucky kid," he said. "Not many could say they've done what you're about to do and lived to tell the tale."

"What're you talking about, old man?" Naruto yelled. "Come on, someone explain to me!"

Rōshi smiled, but shrugged. "I think I'll leave Yugito-chan to do the 'explaining', son." He and the others walked away, and eventually out of sight. Naruto stared at their backs until they were gone, a feeling of dread welling up in his heart.

"I… yeah… um…" he said to the empty air. He gulped, then turned around to face Yugito and Fū. "What exactly were they talking about?" he asked Yugito.

She looked down and sighed. "Listen, Uzumaki—this isn't a time for either of us to be bashful. You need to do this, and I have to let you." Her head shot up, and her eyes locked onto his. "But make no mistake: I take no pleasure in this, and we are _never _to speak of it again. Understood?"

"I—I think so, but I still don't know what you're talking about!"

She frowned and looked over at Fū. "I thought you told me he had a girlfriend? That Hyuuga heiress, wasn't it?"

Fū nodded. "Yeah. But you really can't blame him, he's still kinda naive in many ways. I guess there's nothing to do but get this over with."

"Hn." Yugito nodded back at her. "Make sure he doesn't run," she repeated, "no matter what."

Fū came to Naruto, slipped behind him, and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Now, Naruto-kun, you need to stay still. I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I have to."

Naruto tried to dig in his heels as she pushed him forward, but the snow made it impossible to get the traction to do so. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"Naruto," Yugito snapped. "Shut up." She reached to her side and unbuckled her flak vest. "Gods, can you really be so dense?"

"You'd be surprised," said Fū.

The wrap-around vest hit the ground beside her. "Uzumaki, if your plan is to succeed, you must not move until I say so. Is that clear?"

Naruto looked at her. His heart was beating a mile a minute, but he nodded his understanding. "Good," she said. In one fluid motion, she shrugged her shirt off of her body, then dropped it next to her vest. Bandaged wrapped around her torso, from just below her naval all the way up past her breasts—sarashi. She tugged at one pass of the linen ribbon at her side, and somehow, the entire arrangement came loose, billowing outward like tape sprung from a reel. The bandages fell down into her hands; she slipped one under, and used the other to pull them up and over her head.

There stood Yugito Nii, extremely topless, extremely naked, and entirely unabashed. "I hope you realize," she said, "that this officially never happened, and I feel I must reinforce, will never be spoken of again." On her left breast, around her nipple, was a circular seal five inches wide. Nine individual characters made up the seal to form a ring; Naruto knew enough about seal theory to understand that this one closely tied in hers and Nibi's tenketsu. Most likely, the Nibi saw and experienced everything that Yugito did.

He went into a kind of numb mental shock as soon as her chest was exposed. Everything suddenly became all too real in his eyes. _Oh, shit._

"We don't have time for your spacing out, Naruto!" Fū said. "Just grope her already and be done with it!"

He turned his head sharply at her. "Hey!" he snapped. "It's not that easy! I can't just... you know..."

Fū rubbed her forehead. "Shit, Naruto," she muttered. "It's not like you're fucking her or anything. Just grab her tit, absorb the chakra, and we can be on our way!"

"But-"

Yugito sighed. "Do you need help, Uzumaki?" she asked.

He looked back over at her and blushed. Though he was beginning to become uncomfortable with the situation, he could not help but notice just how beautiful Yugito actually was, in the way a glacier or cascading waterfall was. "No! Just- just give me a moment, okay?"

Fū grunted. "I have to do everything," she said. "God, you're hopeless." In one deft move, she came alongside Naruto, hooked the top of his boot with her heel, and gave him a sharp nudge in the small of his back. Instinctively, he reached out with a hand to steady himself; Yugito grabbed that hand, pulled him in close to her body, and placed it firmly upon her breast.

Naruto stopped breathing the instant his hand made contact with her flesh. In a jolt unlike anything he'd ever felt before, raw, blazing-hot chakra began to shoot through his palm, seemingly surging from the epicenter of the Nibi's seal- Yugito's nipple. There was no effort on his part to draw the chakra; instead, it was being pushed into him with frightening force and volume, much more than he needed in the first place.

_Nibi! _he thought loudly, somehow managing to make a connection to the bijuu. _Stop, this is too much chakra! I won't be able to hold all of this for long!_ Indeed, his tenketsu were already being overloaded with chakra. If the Nibi continued to push this much into him for long, his body could likely break down.

**I can't control it! **the Nibi said. **Something is happening, I can't control the flow!**

_What do you mean, __**you can't control the flow?!**_ he barked. _I'm going to overload if this keeps on! I only meant to take a trace of your chakra, then clone it! I never even considered taking this much!_

**I don't know what is wrong, child! **the Nibi said. **I... I am trying to stem the flow, but it appears that there is nothing that I can do!**

_Make Yugito back up! _he told her. _This can't go on much longer!_

**She... she can't! She is as paralyzed as you are!**

Naruto felt a chill run down his spine. _Nibi! If we don't separate soon, both Yugito and I could die!_

**There has to be something that you can do!**

Naruto grit his teeth. _Do you have any suggestions? _he asked, half-sarcastically.

**Disrupt the flow! **she said. **It's not too late! If you can interrupt the connection between us, we should be able to stop the transfer of chakra!**

_How am I supposed to do that?!_

**I don't know! **she said. **Maybe- maybe you can use the Kyuubi's chakra to fluctuate the transfer!**

_I would if I could! _he said. _But all of my focus is being taken on not dying!_

**Damn it, boy! If you don't do something soon, you could both die! You have no more than twenty seconds to save you** both!

Cold dread filled Naruto as the realization of swift death hit him. _There has to be a way... there has to... _

_Wait! Sando!_

**I got you, kid! **the Inugami roared. **Let me handle this!**

Naruto felt his entire tenketsu seamlessly being taken over by Sando; in the split second between abject horror and release, he felt the dog finagling his system, coursing the excess chakra all through his body in a myriad of paths, instantaneously closing one of the tenketsu in his palm to let the Nibi's chakra flow through only it, and reopening it to send nearly _all of it _back into Yugito's body. The lessening of the pressure inside of his body, combined with the sudden drain of energy, made Naruto fall forward... only for Yugito to likewise collapse backwards into the snow.

His breathing was ragged as he lay on top of her, and it wasn't until a brief moment later that he realized that his head was being raised and lowered upon her heaving chest. His left cheek was mashed against her right breast, while his hand was still grasping her left.

Steam rose about them as their bodies cooled in the snowy, darkening night.

"What... what just happened?!" Fū exclaimed. "What the fuck just happened, Naruto?!" She pulled him off of Yugito and held him up from under his arms, more or less hugging him. "Are you okay?"

Naruto gently pushed her away by her shoulders as he regained his feet. "I'm fine, fine," he said. "I'm more worried about her, though." He knelt by her side and lifted her torso off of the ground. "Quick, her clothes-" Before he finished speaking, Fū was already at Yugito's side. She took Yugito's shoulders and pushed Naruto away. "Hey!" he said.

"Tell me what went wrong, or I'll knock your teeth in, Uzumaki!" she said. "And while we're at it, how can you just absorb demonic chakra and store it like that? I've never heard of the Kyuubi's host being able to do such a thing!"

"But-"

"And you don't have _nearly _the control to do a high-level chakra transfer circuit like that! I've only heard of master healers and Hyuuga pulling something like that off. Something isn't right, Naruto. What is it?"

He winced. _What do I do, Sando? _he asked.

The Inugami mentally shrugged. **That depends, **he asked. **Do you trust her to keep a** **secret of this level?**

_Yes, _he answered with hesitation.

**Then tell her. Minato has told a few of his comrades at times, though only a few. Having an ally in the know has helped him more than once.**

_And the others?_

**Well... that wouldn't be a good idea. Save for Taki, Minato has killed at least a few from all the other represented villages under the guise of Inugami. Telling ****Rōshi****, especially, would not be a good idea.**

_I see... _He looked at Fū and sighed. "Is Yugito still unconscious?"

She looked from her to him and back again, and nodded. "Yes. Why?"

He took off his jacket and threw it over to her. "Keep her warm, but don't wake her up yet. Let me know if she begins to." She snatched it out of the air, and he knelt down on the other side of the woman. "I have to make this quick."

Fū fit the jacket over her as best as she could. "What are you talking about?"

Snow suddenly flew in a gust of wind, chilling Naruto's exposed skin. "I need you to promise that, no matter what, this stays between you and me."

"Wait, Naruto, we don't have the time for this-"

"Swear it, or I walk away, right now!" Fū jumped slightly at his emphatic words. "We all have secrets, and this is one that you can never tell _anyone _if you want me to live another year. I can't afford not to have your word on this." He leaned forward over Yugito, his face only a few inches from Fū's. "Swear to keep this secret, and I will tell you everything as quickly as I can."

Fū looked at him for a second and nodded. "I swear," she said. "Now spill."

Naruto let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding. "It all started with our first real mission... my first black ops."

"Black ops?"

He gulped. "Yeah... Just... hear me out."

"Hn. Lay it on me."

* * *

Naruto had told Fū everything already, and had sent a clone to gather the rest. By the time they arrived, Yugito had regained consciousness, and seemed none the worse for wear.

The plan had been laid out by then; everybody knew their tasks and rendezvous points. If things went relatively smoothly, the operation could potentially be wrapped up inside of an hour or so. If, however, there was more than a minor hitch in the plan, they could all die, quickly and horribly.

"Everybody got it?" Rōshi said. "Any questions?"

Utakata raised a hand. "Yeah… I do." He looked at Naruto. "It's something that's been bugging me, actually. You know your father's Hiraishin… why haven't you used that to take us all to safety?"

Naruto shifted his weight as the words settled. "Huh," Fū said. "That's actually a fair point. What's the deal, Naruto?"

He met their accusing eyes calmly. "It's a little more complicated than I can explain right now," he said.

"Try," said Fū. "This whole mess is partially your fault. You owe us."

Naruto grit his teeth. "I don't quite understand it, to be frank. My dad was a genius. He learned the sealing arts from my mom, and created a technique to bend space with them. However, the Hiraishin is not without its drawbacks. Believe it or not, there is a crippling weakness to the technique." Naruto could not help but notice both B and Rōshi perk up at hearing that last bit. "The Hiraishin is extremely versatile, in that it can summon the user to a location, or the user can use the seal to teleport objects, attacks, or people. But doing so puts a _huge _strain in the dimension that the seal tags tap into. That stunt with the gravity array pushed the space/time field to its limits, and it takes a while for it to repair itself. Imagine a bridge that can only hold so much weight, but can slowly rebuild itself. If too many people cross it at a time, the strain can rupture the foundation.

"I haven't teleported us away by now because I _can't. _I've got at most five or six Hiraishin jumps under my belt right now, and there is no chance in hell that I can bring anyone with me. It's a rope bridge that's about ready to snap." His eyes shot over to Rōshi. "Satisfied?"

Rōshi nodded. "Fair enough." He jerked his head toward the enemy camp. "Let's go, people." He set off walking toward the enemy camp with a determined glint in his eyes. Per the planned formation, B and Fū fell in behind him, one to each side a few feet and about that far behind. The two of them being the real physical powerhouses of the bunch, they'd be responsible for plowing through anyone who got in their way.

Utakata and Gaara fell in behind them. Utakata had already brought out his strange pipe and soap mixtures, and was busy blowing hundreds, perhaps thousands, of teeny tiny bubbles. They drifted with the wind, blowing to the north. If any of them were popped by a human, he would instantly know.

Gaara's sand erupted from the gourd on his back to spread out in a hazy cloud around the group. He had the responsibility of keeping an eye on their six o'clock and the rest of their blind spots. If anyone tried to approach them from behind, there was little to no chance that they would escape his sand. That, and if Utakata's bubbles detected anybody too close to them, it would be easier done than said to use them to guide the sand and crush them before they could raise an alarm.

Naruto wanted to minimize the death count, but he knew that there was no practical way to avoid it altogether. Gaara was a necessary evil in this plan, one that he couldn't ignore or avoid. He knew that his Suna counterpart wasn't exactly… _together_… but he hoped that he could keep the other boy focused on the end goal long enough to let some people survive.

Naruto and Yugito too up the rear. She would be responsible for maintaining the genjutsu masking their presence; while it wouldn't perfectly hide them from prying eyes, if they stayed close enough to her, they would have a better chance of slipping away in the colossal panic they were about to create. She glanced over at Naruto and smiled. "You ready for this, kid?" she asked.

He huffed, the breath turning into vapor before his eyes. "You know, I really wish you guys would stop calling me that all the time."

She reached over and ruffled his hair. "Please, you're the youngest one here, Gaara included. Deal with it."

Naruto harumped. "Does that mean I get to call you 'Old Lady' now, Yugito-san?"

She smiled sweetly… then Naruto heard what sounded like swords unsheathing by his ear. Yugito took her hand away from his head to reveal what seemed to be razor-sharp, foot-long claws sprouting from her fingertips. "Sure," she said in a genial voice. "Why don't you try it, and we'll test out just how immortal you are these days?"

He sidestepped without missing a beat. "No, I'm good," he answered. "I suspect that I'll be figuring that out pretty soon anyway, no need to get ahead of myself quite yet."

Yugito smiled wryly at him, the long fingernails retracting back to whence the came. "Let's hope that doesn't happen," she said. "Is the scroll ready?"

Naruto nodded, and pulled it out of his pocket. The amount of chakra stored inside of it practically oozed into the air around it. "Ready, and fit to burst."

"This is going to be tricky," Rōshi said. "Naruto, are you sure those clones will do the job?"

"And then some," Naruto promised. "As long as we stick to the plan, everything should work out fine. Stick to the checkpoints, don't get separated from your partner, and we should all rendezvous within an hour."

"Good luck," Utakata murmured. "To all of us." With that, Rōshi suddenly put on a burst of speed, running full-tilt north, weaving through the trees with practiced ease. As one, everyone followed behind him, keeping roughly to formation while picking their own path over the frozen ground.

It took sheer moments for them to cross enough ground to escape the wood. There, before them, barely a stone's throw away, was the truly enormous camp of mercenaries and loyal shinobi. Rōshi lowered his head and picked up the speed yet again; now that he had open ground to work with, the short man could _really _show the youngsters how to do it. "All right!" he bellowed out behind him. "Naruto, now!"

With a mighty heave, Naruto used his momentum to leap, twist, and throw the scroll high into the air. It shot up and over with only a slight arc, peaking about thirty yards or so from the outer edge of the outside line of tents. Naruto's hands flashed through a few short hand signs; seemingly by itself, the scroll unraveled into a cone, its tip pointing up toward the sky. Spinning wildly as it flew, the written characters on its outside shot out of the scroll and hovered over the paper itself, perhaps an inch out. Those characters glowed fiercely, red and yellow and blue and tan, the colors of all of the chakra of the Bijuu. The scroll spun so fast, the colors blended into a bright violet blur.

The scroll shot through the air at the camp without losing any speed; once it was very near the closest tents, it exploded with a crack as loud as thunder. Thousands of forms sprang forth, going every which way. Exact copies of the Bijuu Corps shot through the air and landed haphazardly on the ground, crushing tents and knocking over shinobi and mercenaries alike. The men and women of the camp had no warning, none at all. Most of them had hunkered down for the night, resting, preparing for the next day. None of them had thought that a surprise attack of this magnitude would have been possible.

The flood of clones hit the camp like a literal tsunami. Clones crawled over each other to scramble from the origin point to spread out and cause as much havoc as they could. For nearly a minute, copies of all the present Jinchuriki emanated from the rapidly-spinning scroll, constantly crawling over each other in the rush of the invasion.

Perhaps the most surprising to the shocked shinobi, however, was the fact that roughly half of the clones were in nothing but skimpy loincloths or bikinis.

What exactly do you do when a fifty-plus year old man in a cotton thong knocks you over into the snow?

Shouts quickly rose from the crowd, both from the men and women of the camp and the rattling war cries of ten thousand clones. Their job was to spread chaos and confusion, not to fight, though it would be a lie to say that the injured weren't piling up. Though copies, all of the clones had the same mass and weight as their real-life counterparts, and in the madness that was this jutsu, many people got trodden to the ground, some in bloody messes.

"GO!" Rōshi shouted, barely managing to make himself heard above the din. "We plunge into the middle of the mass as one, but once we're there, get lost in them, stick with your partner, and try to stay out of trouble! We'll meet three miles to the east in one hour! Anyone not there five minutes after that will be considered dead or captured! And whatever you do, try to stay out of the way of those Akatsuki guys! If they make you, hightail it as fast as you can! Under no circumstances are you to engage in combat with any one of them on your own. Everybody got that?" A chorus of affirmation came from behind him. "Yugito, are we masked yet?"

Yugito's hands were held in a ram seal, while her eyes were narrowed in concentration. "Yes," she said. "Barring a doujitsu, we should be invisible to the naked eye for at least four or five minutes."

"Good enough," said Rōshi. "Uzumaki! The signal!"

"Right!" He held one hand up to the sky and concentrated. _Sando! Do it!_

The palm of his hand began glowing a bright blue; an instant later, a lattice of lightning bolts shot into the clouds above them, resounding with a mighty, massive crack of deafening thunder. Instead of disappearing after the brief second that lightning normally did, it remained in the air, like a brilliant crack in the sky itself. "That should do it!" he shouted.

"Subtle, aren't you?" said Utakata.

"You can't touch my style, bubble boy!" Naruto shot back. "When all you have is a hammer, you swing that fucker like there's no tomorrow!"

"Clones in five seconds!" said Fū. "I'll see you guys on the other side!" Her wings sprouted from the back of her jacket; now that they were out of the trees, there was no need for her to keep in formation. She dashed just ahead of B and hopped into the air, her feet below her in a crouching position. B's fist grew several times larger and took on the shade of the Hachibi's skin. Barely had Fū's feet touched it when he punched her into the air. With that added velocity assisting her wings, she was off of the ground and into the clouds in seconds.

Suddenly, there they were, surrounded by clones and shinobi. The column plowed on into the veritable orgy of panic and outrage, each one keeping an eye on those above and beside them. The body heat of the some-fourteen thousand real and artificial humans around them turned the pile of bodies into a sauna. _This is insane! _Naruto thought in a gleeful panic. _This is totally crazy! Why did they let me convince them to do this?! Are they as crazy as I am?! _The adrenalin coursing through his veins left no time for second-guessing; all he could do was press on with his compatriots through the throng.

Already, he was beginning to receive the psychic memory of the defeated clones. Though they had existed for less than a minute at this point, several dozen, nearly a hundred, of them had been destroyed, and assimilating that many of his split personalities was something of a chore to do efficiently.

For the first time, he truly wondered if he was physically or mentally capable of pulling this off. _No time for second guesses, _he chastised himself. _No time for doubt. They're counting on me. This is my show. I can't let them down! _He grit his teeth, even as his vision in his right eye began to blur from the constant influx of memories. "Break!" he shouted. Without further instructions, Rōshi and Utakata shot left, to the west, while Gaara and B went to the north-west direction. Both groups instantly became unrecognizable in the hubbub—which was, after all, the entire point of the exercise. Yugito and Naruto went the other way, doubling back south and east. The two would slowly make their way to the rendezvous point and secure the location against hostiles in preparation to hightail it out of there.

That was the idea, anyway. But as Naruto quickly found out, it wasn't going to work out nearly that flawlessly.

As the clones spread out through the camp and raised as much hell as they could, he realized that he wouldn't be able to buy as much time as he had hoped. As the minutes went on, as he and Yugito struggled not to engage in combat while under the guise of her genjutsu, the mercenaries and remaining Oto and Ame shinobi were defending themselves and regrouping faster than he had anticipated. By the hundreds, his clones were being annihilated, and the influx of memories were beginning to take their toll on his psyche. Under controlled conditions, he had dispersed several hundred at a time, but that was when he wasn't under any sort of pressure and immobile.

He had overestimated his ability to control his own jutsu, and he realized that he was in more trouble than ever. "Yugito!" he gasped as he stumbled into the trampled snow and mud. She turned around to see him skidding on his knees, his head bowed with the massive onset migraine. "Yugi… AAARGH!" He clutched his head in his hands and slammed his head into the ground as his body began convulsing.

Yugito didn't bother to think through her next actions. She scooped Naruto up into her arms, cast a quick glance around to make sure that nobody was paying them any special attention, and the two sank deep into the earth with only a few flung hand seals as chaos reigned around them.

* * *

I'm gonna be the first to say it: This was not my best chapter. My writing quality, admittedly, has gone downhill since this time last year. I'm not gonna make any excuse besides the easiest deadly sin—sloth. But I'm going to work on it, and I'll be the writer that Mister Rogers knew I could be.

I'm taking my ass to bed, because I have to sleep tomorrow.

Do the impossible, see the invisible. Fight the power.

~dead witch


End file.
